The works started on 1502 and took 15 years to be completed. At great personal expense, Cardinal Cisneros acquired many manuscripts and invited the top religious scholars of the day, to work on the ambitious task of compiling a massive and complete polyglot "to revive the languishing study of the Sacred Scriptures". Diego Lopez de Zúñiga, was the chief editor and fluent in Latin as well as both Aramaic and Arabic. He was given a team of various translators. Converted translators and academics were favoured and specifically sought since they were fluent in the source languages and the cultures of the texts. Second in command, Alfonso de Zamora (14761544) was a converted Jewish scholar, an expert in thalamic studies, and spoke Hebrew as his first language. Other "conversos" working on the project were Alfonso de Alcalá, Pablo de Coronel. Demetrius Ducas a scholar from Crete and Hernán Núñez de Toledo ("The Pincian") and Juan de Vergara were in charge of the translation from Greek manuscripts. Antonio de Nebrija was specifically called for the translation of the Vulgate. Hernán Núñez de Toledo was also the chief Latinist.