Career
In 1408, at the command of the rich and influential Benveniste ben Solomon ben Labi, he wrote a work in Arabic on the value and effects of various foodstuffs and of simple and composite medicaments. It was translated into Hebrew, under the title Gerem ha-Ma'alot, by Benveniste's son, Joseph Vidal. This letter was addressed to Paul de Burgos at a time when the latter occupied a high position, was surrounded by luxury and a band of servants, and, as is supposed, had already been appointed tutor to the young king Juan II of Castile.
Joshua Lorki's father, Joseph ben Joshua ibn Vives al-Lorqui, who died before 1372, was also a physician. He revised Tibbon's translation of Moses Maimonides' Millot Higgayon and dedicated the revision to his pupil Ezra ben Solomon ibn Gatigno. He wrote also the Sefer Yesodot.
He translated from Arabic into Hebrew various books of the short canon of Avicenna, and added to the translation a commentary which was used by Shem?ob Shaprut.
