Josef Markwart (originally spelled Josef Marquart: December 9, 1864 in Reichenbach am Heuberg – February 4, 1930 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) was a German

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and orientalist. He specialized in Turkish and Iranian Studies and the

history of the Middle East The Middle East, or the Near East, was one of the cradles of civilization: after the Neolithic Revolution and the adoption of agriculture, many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations were created there. Since ancient times, the Middle ...

. The ''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English-language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

'' wrote that "His books are full of profound and nearly inexhaustible erudition, revealing that their author was a learned historian, philologist, geographer, and ethnologist." The encyclopedia cited his 1901 book ''Ērānšahr'' as "still an authoritative work and probably his most important."

Biography

He attended

Tübingen University Tübingen (; ) is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three of the 90,000 people ...

in Germany, where he studied

Catholic theology Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on canonical scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholi ...

, and then later switched his studies to classical

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

and history. In 1889 he worked as an assistant to Eugen Prym, an orientalist author. His doctoral

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

''Assyriaka des Ktesias'' was accepted and he graduated in 1892. In 1897 he began as a lecturer in

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...

. In 1900 he moved to

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

, The Netherlands and became a

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

at the

Museum Volkenkunde Wereldmuseum Leiden (also known as Museum Volkenkunde) is a List of Rijksmuseums, Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands located in the university city of Leiden. As of 2014, the museum, along with Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, in Amsterdam, and Wereldmuseum, ...

(Ethnographical Museum). In 1902 he was appointed to the position of assistant professor for languages of the Christian Orient at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

. In 1912 he moved to

and became a full Professor of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian and

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

n studies at Berlin University. He taught in Berlin for the remainder of his life, even giving a noon lecture on the day of his death in 1930. In 1922 he changed his last name from "Marquart" to "Markwart". The ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' stated that this paralleled "his tendency to make use of an idiosyncratic

orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...

in his writings." His most famous pupil was the Italian Orientalist Giuseppe Messina.

Works

* ''Ērānšahr nach der Geographie des Ps. Moses Xoranacʽi'' (1901) * ''Osteuropäische und ostasiatische Streifzüge'' (1903, reprinted 1961) * ''Südarmenien und die Tigrisquellen'' (1930) * ''A catalogue of the provincial capitals of Ērānshahr'' (published posthumously, 1931)

References

German orientalists 1864 births 1930 deaths Iranologists Armenian studies scholars University of Tübingen alumni Academic staff of Leiden University Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Turkologists German Turkologists {{Germany-academic-bio-stub