From the History of the Decipherment of West Semitic Writing: Events and People. (VII) Barthélemy the Orientalist: Between Scholarship and High Society. Part II (in Russian) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Marat M. Yunusov (Письменные памятники Востока, 2020, том 17, № 2 (вып. 41), с. 18–40)
In the mid-18th century, Barthélemy made two outstanding discoveries — he deciphered the Palmyrene and Phoenician alphabets. A few days, sometimes months, of work on ancient writings—and a decade of debates, conflict and justification. Long-term studies of antique numismatics—and wide recognition of the colleagues. Thirty years of work on the archaeological novel Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce—and the rapture of contemporaries, the universal adoration of the general public. Did Barthélemy’s dreams of his days of study in Marseilles come true when the young seminarist Jean-Jacques began to learn the basics of Oriental languages on his own? Key words: Barthélemy, Reynaud, Cary, Thomassin, Boze.
Marat M. Yunusov (Письменные памятники Востока, 2019, том 16, № 1 (вып. 36), с. 90–113) In the mid-18th century, Barthélemy and Swinton almost simultaneously deciphered Palmyrene writing. Previously well-disposed to one another, the two scholars later turned into bitter opponents because of the controversy over the priority in that discovery. High society and, partly, the scientific community took Barthélemy’s side while Swinton got a reputation of a dilettante and a tactless person. Key words: Barthélemy, Swinton, Roma I, Roma II, Palmyrene alphabet.
Marat M. Yunusov (Письменные памятники Востока, 2020, том 17, № 1 (вып. 40), с. 21–45), 2020
In the middle of the 18th century, Barthélemy and Swinton almost simultaneously deciphered Phoenician writing. This outstanding event in the history of the West Semitic epigraphy has once again led to a dispute between two scholars for the primacy in this discovery. Would Barthelemy’s dechipherment have been so quick and successful without the work that had been done by his predecessors, including Swinton? Key words: Barthélemy, Swinton, Phoenician alphabet, Melitensis prima, Cippi Melqarti, Citiensis secunda.
M.M. Yunusov (Письменные памятники Востока. 2015. № 1 (22). С. 75-97). This is the third article of a series of essays on some major stages of early Europe’s West Semitic epigraphy. During the first third of the 17th century, a Greek-Palmyrene bilingua carved on a marble bas-relief and published in the collection of J. Lipsius and M. Smetius Inscriptionum antiquarum in 1588 (PL. XXXII) attracted the attention of S. Petit. He tried to translate the palmyrene part of the bilingua but failed. We know about it from J. Spon’s information (1679) who presented an excerpt with translation from one of S. Petit’s private letter to N.-C. de Peiresc (1632). But this translation had been taken out of context of the author’s arguments on the subject. So it is unfair to consider this text as a translation in the full sense of the word. More likely, it is a tentative reconstruction of an oral sacred ritual during the sacrifice ceremony in front of the relief.
M.M. Yunusov (Письменные памятники Востока. 2014. № 2 (21). С. 125-152). This article is a continuation of a series of essays on some major stages of early West Semitic epigraphy in Europe. At the very end of the 16th century, a Greek-Palmyrene bilingua, carved on a marble bas-relief and published in the collection of J. Lipsius and M. Smetius Inscriptionum antiquarum in 1588 (PL. XXXII), attracted the attention of J.J. Scaliger. He used the Greek version of the bilingual in his book De emendatione temporum, which appeared in its third edition in 1598. The work on the book proceeded under difficult conditions: civil (religious) wars, enemies, enviers. However, at the same time, the brilliant French scholar was surrounded by friends and admirers.
The famous British traveller Clarke visited Bakhchisaray on 31 July and 1 August 1800. He had fortune to collect various accounts of the inhabitants, their occupations, life style, manners, ar-chitecture and urbanism of their town, and to express his view of the consequences of the Russian annexation of the Crimea against the background of these materials. This topic allows one to indicate several aspects which come out when studying Clarke’s book as a historical source.
2011
"В статье опубликованы избранные письма А.Я. Борисова П.К. Коковцову, хранящиеся в СПбФ АРАН, а также фрагмент письма А.Я. Борисова И.Ю. Крачковскому, посвященного памяти П.К. Коковцова и хранящегося в семейном архиве. В предисловии приводятся биографические сведения об обоих ученых-востоковедах, дается обзор их разносторонней научной деятельности, которая нашла столь яркое отражение в письмах А.Я. Борисова. Первое письмо представляет особый интерес, так как написано на иврите и относится, по-видимому, к 1924 г. – времени прибытия А.Я. Борисова в Ленинград. В других письмах, которые датированы разным временем вплоть до конца 1930-х гг., обсуждаются различные темы в рамках основной области научных интересов обоих ученых – семитологии. Значительное внимание уделено еврейско-арабской литературе, главным образом, в рукописях из собрания А. Фирковича (РНБ), и арамейской эпиграфике (надписи из Ирана и Пальмиры). Последнее письмо, адресованное И.Ю. Крачковскому, написано Борисовым в январе 1942 г. вскоре после смерти П.К. Коковцова. В нем содержатся ценные биографические сведения как о П.К. Коковцове, так и о самом А.Я. Борисове, и раскрываются истоки их научных интересов. The article contains a publication of selected letters of a notable Russian semitologist Andrey Yakovlevich Borisov (1903-1942) to the Academician Pavel Konstantinovich Kokovtsoff (1861-1942), Borisov’s University teacher and a prominent scholar in the field of Semitic Studies. Both scholars died tragically during the Siege of Leningrad. The introduction contains biographical data and an outline of the fruitful and versatile research of both scholars, which was so vividly presented in the letters of Borisov. The first letter is probably the most interesting of all as it was written in Hebrew in a very high and elaborate style and it can be dated to 1924 when Borisov first came to Leningrad from Tartu and was aspiring to become a student of Kokovtsoff at the Leningrad University. He describes dramatically his learning and his amazing achievements in reading Hebrew literature. Other letters, which are dated to the end of 1930s, discuss various subjects in the general field of Semitic Studies, but mainly Judeo-Arabic literature in manuscripts of the Firkovich Collection in the Russian National Library and the Aramaic inscriptions from the Ancient Iran and Palmyra. The last letter published in the article is addressed to Ignatiy Yulianovich Krachkovskiy (1883-1951) and was written by Borisov in January 1942, a few days after the death of Kokovtsoff and a few months before his own untimely demise. This letter contains valuable information about both Kokovtsoff’s and Borisov’s families and early life and shows the origins of their specific interest in Semitic studies."