Solomon Ashkenazi, the son of Nathan Ashkenazi, was born around 1520 in the Italian town of Udine and studied medicine at the University of Padua. In the 1550s he was in Kraków, and around the mid-1560s he settled in Istanbul, where he soon became the personal physician of the Venetian bailo (diplomatic representative), then the official physician of the Venetian “nation” in Istanbul, and ultimately physician of Mehmet Sokollu, the grand vizier.

Recognizing Ashkenazi’s great ability, Sokollu used him as an adviser on international affairs. Ashkenazi was particularly hel…