 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(March 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 9 June 1774  |
| Died | 23 November 1856 (aged 82) |
| Occupation | Orientalist |
| Signature | |
 | |
Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall (Arabic:يوسف حامر,romanized: Yūsuf Ḥāmir;[1] 9 June 1774 – 23 November 1856)[2] was an Austrianorientalist,historian anddiplomat. He is considered one of the most accomplished orientalists of his time.
BornJoseph Hammer in Graz,Duchy of Styria (nowStyria,Austria), he received his early education mainly inVienna. Entering the diplomatic service in 1796, he was appointed in 1799 to a position in the Austrian embassy inIstanbul, and in this capacity he took part in the expedition underAdmiral William Sidney Smith andGeneral John Hely-Hutchinson againstFrance. In 1807 he returned home from the East, after which he was made aprivy councillor.[3]
In 1824 he was knighted and thereafter styled himself asRitter Joseph von Hammer.
For fifty years Hammer-Purgstall wrote prolifically on the most diverse subjects and published numerous texts and translations ofArabic,Persian andTurkish authors.[3] He was the first to publish a complete translation of thedivan ofHafez into a western language.[4] By traversing so large a field, he laid himself open to the criticism of specialists, and he was severely handled byHeinrich Friedrich von Diez (1751–1817), who, in hisUnfug und Betrug in der morgenländischen Litteratur, nebst vielen hundert Proben von der groben Unwissenheit des H. v. Hammer zu Wien in Sprachen und Wissenschaften (1815), devoted to him nearly 600 pages of abuse. He also came into friendly conflict on the subject of the origin ofThe Thousand and One Nights with his younger English contemporaryEdward William Lane.[3]
Hammer-Purgstall supported the foundation of theAustrian Academy of Sciences inVienna and became the academy's first president (1847–1849). TheAustrian Oriental Society, founded in 1959 to foster cultural relations with the Near East, is formally named 'Österreichische Orient-Gesellschaft Hammer-Purgstall' in recognition of Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall's accomplishments.
In 1847 he received a medal commissioned by a friend of his,Ludwig August von Frankl. The reverse references some of his works in pictures.[5]
He died inVienna on 23 November 1856.[6]
Hammer considered theGreeks of his time to culturally belong with theOrient on linguistic and political grounds,[7] rather than following thephilhellenic trend of equating the Greeks with their classical legacy.[8] In this regard, he seems to have stayed faithful to a late eighteenth-century intellectual tradition.[9]
Hammer-Purgstall's principal work is hisGeschichte des osmanischen Reiches (10 vols.,Pest, 1827–1835; revised edition in 4 vols., 1834–1836; reprinted 1840). Among his other works are:
For a comprehensive list of his works see Constantin Schlottmann,Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, Zurich 1857.
For a biographical account of Hammer's life, see Walter Höflechner,Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall 1774–1856: ein altösterreichisches Gelehrtenleben. Eine Annäherung, Graz 2021.
Hammer married Caroline von Henikstein (1797–1844), the daughter ofAustrian Jewish financierJoseph von Henikstein in 1816. In 1835, upon inheriting the estates of the Countess Purgstall (née Jane Anne Cranstoun), the Edinburgh-born widow of his late friend Gottfried Wenzel von Purgstall, he acquired the titleFreiherr and changed his family name to Hammer-Purgstall.[11] The Countess Purgstall's sensationalist portrayal by her fellow ScotsmanBasil Hall inSchloss Hainfeld; or, a Winter in Lower Styria (1836), an account of his visit as an invited guest to the Purgstall estates in 1834, may have served as an inspiration for the eponymousvampire protagonist ofSheridan Le Fanu'sCarmilla.[12]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph, Freiherr von".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 898.| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |