- Simon Ockley
Simon Ockley (1678 –
August 9 ,1720 ), was a BritishOrientalist .Biography
Ockley was born at Exeter. He was educated at
Queens' College, Cambridge , and graduated B.A. in 1697, MA. in 1701, and B.D. in 1710; he became fellow of Jesus College and vicar ofSwavesey , and in 1711 was chosenAdams 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 inIsaac D'Israeli 's "Calamities of Authors".The preface to the second volume of his "
History of the Saracens " is dated fromCambridge 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 orientates " (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 an MS. in the Bodleian of Pseudo-Al-Waqidi 's "Futúh al-Shám", which is rather historical romance than history. [http://www.bartleby.com/220/1202.html]
* A translation ofLeon Modena 's "History of the Persian 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 philosophical fiction work byIbn Tufayl .
* Translated from Arabic the "Second Book of Esdras"
* "Sentences of Ali son-in-law of Mahomet, and his fourth successor." Translated from an authentick Arabick manuscript in the Bodleian library at Oxford, by Simon Ockley. London, B. Lintot, 1717.Resources
* [http://64.1911encyclopedia.org/O/OC/OCKLEY_SIMON.htm Simon Ockley article from the 1911 Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.dinsdoc.com/ockley-1-0.htm Full Text of "History of the Saracens"]
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