Simon Ockley (16789 August 1720) was a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
Orientalist.
Biography
Ockley was born at
Exeter
Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
. He was educated at
Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...
, and graduated B.A. in 1697, MA. in 1701, and B.D. in 1710.
He became a fellow of Jesus College and vicar of
Swavesey, and in 1711, was chosen
Adams Professor of Arabic in the university. He had a large family, and his latter days were embittered by pecuniary embarrassments, which form the subject of a chapter in
Isaac D'Israeli
Isaac D'Israeli (11 May 1766 – 19 January 1848) was a British writer, scholar and the father of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli. He is best known for his essays and his associations with other me ...
's ''Calamities of Authors''. The preface to the second volume of his ''
History of the Saracens'' is dated from
Cambridge Castle, where he lay a prisoner for debt.
Ockley maintained that a knowledge of Oriental literature was essential to the proper study of theology, and in the preface to his first book, the ''
Introductio ad linguas orientales'' (1706), he urges the importance of the study.
He died at Swavesey.
Works
*''
The History of the Saracens'', is his main work. It was published in two volumes, 1708–1718, and long enjoyed a great reputation; unfortunately Ockley took as his main authority a manuscript in the
Bodleian of
Al-Waqidi's ''Futúh al-Shám'', which is a historical romance rather than histor
* A translation of
Leon Modena's ''History of the Present Jews throughout the World'' (1707).
*''
The Improvement of Human Reason, exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan'' (1708), an English translation of ''Hayy ibn Yaqdhan'', a 12th-century
philosophical novel
Philosophical fiction is any fiction that devotes a significant portion of its content to the sort of questions addressed by philosophy. It might explore any facet of the human condition, including the function and role of society, the nature and ...
by
Ibn Tufayl
Ibn Ṭufayl ( – 1185) was an Arab Andalusian Muslim polymath: a writer, Islamic philosopher, Islamic theologian, physician, astronomer, and vizier.
As a philosopher and novelist, he is most famous for writing the first philosophical no ...
.
* Translated from Arabic the ''Second Book of Esdras''
* ''An Aᴄᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ of Sᴏᴜᴛʜ-Wᴇsᴛ Bᴀʀʙᴀʀʏ: ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀɪɴɪɴɢ What is most Remarkable in the Territories of the Kɪɴɢ of Fᴇᴢ and Mᴏʀᴏᴄᴄᴏ. Written by a Person who had been a Slave there a considerable Time; and Published from his Authentick Manuscript. To which are Added, Two ʟᴇᴛᴛᴇʀs: One from the Present King of Mᴏʀᴏᴄᴄᴏ to Colonel Kirk; The Other to Sir Cloudesly Shovell: With Sir Cloudesly's Answer, &c.'' London: Printed for J. Bowyer and H. Clements, 1713
* ''Sentences of Ali son-in-law of Mahomet, and his fourth successor.'' Translated from an Arabic manuscript in the Bodleian library at Oxford. London, B. Lintot, 1717.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ockley, Simon
1678 births
1720 deaths
18th-century English historians
18th-century English translators
Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge
Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge
Historians of the Middle East
Translators from Arabic
British Arabists
Sir Thomas Adams's Professors of Arabic
Writers from Exeter
People from South Cambridgeshire District
People imprisoned for debt