Charles Adrien Casimir Barbier de Meynard (; 6 February 1826 – 31 March 1908), born at sea on a ship from

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

, was a nineteenth-century French historian and orientalist.

Biography

His studies focused on the early history of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and the

Caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

. Among his other works, he completed

Julius von Mohl Julius von Mohl (25 October 1800 – 4 January 1876) was a German Orientalist. Life The brother of Hugo von Mohl and Robert von Mohl, he was born at Stuttgart. He abandoned the idea of entering the Lutheran ministry, and in 1823 went to Pa ...

's translation of

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

's '' Shahnama'', with the French title ''Livre des Rois''. This was the first European translation of the pivotal work made available to a wide audience. Barbier de Meynard also translated numerous works by

al-Masudi al-Masʿūdī (full name , ), –956, was a historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geo ...

ibn Khordadbeh Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh (; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking bureaucrat and geographer of Persian descent in the Abbasid Caliphate. He is the aut ...

and other

-era historians. He studied the history of

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, ...

, editing the ''Dictionnaire Géographique de la Perse'', and wrote about the then-nascent

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

. He was involved in the editing of the 19th-century edition of Crusader sources in Arabic with French translations, the Recueil des Historiens des Croisades. Barbier de Meynard was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

in 1895.

Selected works

*
Dictionnaire géographique, historique et littéraire de la Perse et des contrées adjacentes, extrait du ″Mo'djem el-Bouldan″ de Yaquout, et complété à l'aide de documents arabes et persans pour la plupart inédits
', Paris, Impr. Impériale, 1861, XXI-640 p. * '' Le Livre des routes et des provinces par Ibn-Khordadbeh'', published, translated and annotated by C. Barbier de Meynard, Paris, Impr. impériale, 1865, 283 p. * ''Le Livre des Rois'', de Ferdowsî (940-1020), translated and commentated Jules Mohl, in collab. with Charles Barbier de Meynard, Paris, 1876-1878, 7 vol. (Cette traduction a été revue par Charles Pellat en vue d'une nouvelle édition à partir de 1962). * ''Traduction nouvelle du traité de Ghazâlî 058-1111intitulé : le Préservatif de l'erreur, et notices sur les extases (des soufis)'', Paris, Impr. nationale, 1877, 93 p. * ''Dictionnaire turc-français : supplément aux dictionnaires publiés jusqu'à ce jour'', Paris, E. Leroux, 1881-1886, 2 vol., X-786 + 898 p. * Traduction de ''L'Alchimiste'' de Feth-Ali Akhounzadé, Paris, Ed. Imprimerie nationale, 1886; édition numérique consultable sur google :https://archive.org/details/Lalchimiste * ''Abou Chamah : ''Le Livre des deux jardins'', histoire des deux règnes : celui de Nour Ed-Dîn et celui de Salah Ed-Dîn'', (trad. par Barbier de Meynard), Paris, 1898. In-fol., XI-525 p. * Mas'ûdî (X^es.- 956 ?),''Les Prairies d'or (Murūǧ al-d̲ahab wa-ma´ādin al-ǧawhar)'', trad. de Barbier de Meynard et Pavet de Courteille, Paris, Impr. Impériale/Nationale, 1861-1877, 9 vol. Nouvelle édition revue par Charles Pellat, Paris, Société asiatique, 1962-1997, 5 vol.

References

External links

Notice biographique
par Charles Pellat *
Éloge funèbre de M. le baron Jean-Joseph de Witte, membre de l'Académie des Inscription et belles-lettres / Paris : Institut de France. 1989. Volume 3. (p. 250–252)
par Charles Barbier de Meynard. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbier de Meynard, Charles 1826 births 1908 deaths People born at sea 19th-century French historians Scholars of medieval Islamic history French orientalists French Arabists French Iranologists Dragomans Translators from Persian Translators to French Academic staff of the Collège de France Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Members of the Ligue de la patrie française Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the Société Asiatique 19th-century French translators

Biography

See also

Selected works

References

External links