Adam Olearius

Adam Olearius

Adam Olearius (born Adam Ölschläger or Oehlschlaeger) (ca. August 16 1603 – February 22 1671) was a German scholar, mathematician, geographer and librarian. He became secretary to the ambassador sent by Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, to the Shah of Persia, and published two books about the events and observations during his travels.

Travels

He was born at Aschersleben, near Magdeburg. After studying at Leipzig he became librarian and court mathematician to Frederick III, and in 1633 he was appointed secretary to the ambassadors Philip Crusius, jurisconsult, and Otto Bruggemann or Brugman, merchant, sent by the duke to Muscovy and Persia in the hope of making arrangements by which his newly-founded city of Friedrichstadt should become the terminus of an overland silk-trade. This embassy started from Gottorp on October 22 1633, and travelled by Hamburg, Lübeck, Riga, Dorpat (five months' stay), Reval, Narva, Ladoga, and Novgorod to Moscow (August 14, 1634). Here they concluded an advantageous treaty with Tsar Michael of Russia, and returned forthwith to Gottorp (December 14, 1634 – April 7, 1635) to procure the ratification of this arrangement from the duke, before proceeding to Persia.

With this accomplished, they started afresh from Hamburg on 22 October 1635, arrived at Moscow on 29 March 1636; and left Moscow on 30 June for Balakhna near Nizhniy Novgorod, to where they had already sent agents (in 1634/1635) to prepare a vessel for their descent of the Volga. Their voyage down the great river and over the Caspian Sea was slow and hindered by accidents, especially by grounding, as near Derbent on 14 November 1636; but at last, by way of Shemakha (three months' delay here), Ardabil, Soltaniyeh and Kasvin, they reached the Persian court at Isfahan (August 3, 1637), and were received by the shah (August 16).

Negotiations here were not as successful as at Moscow, and the embassy left Isfahan on 21 December 1637, and returned home by Rasht, Lenkoran, Astrakhan, Kazan, Moscow, and other places. At Reval, Olearius parted from his colleagues (April 15, 1639) and embarked directly for Lübeck. On his way he had made a chart of the Volga, and partly for this reason Michael wished to either persuade or compel him to enter his service. Once back at Gottorp, Olearius became librarian to the duke, who also made him keeper of his cabinet of curiosities, and induced the tsar to excuse his (promised) return to Moscow. Under his care the Gottorp library and cabinet were greatly enriched in manuscripts, books, and oriental and other works of art: in 1651 he purchased, for this purpose, the collection of the Dutch scholar and physician, Bernard ten Broecke ("Paludanus"). He died at Gottorp on 22 February 1671.

Books

It is by his admirable narrative of the Russian and the Persian legation ("Beschreibung der muscowitischen und persischen Reise", (Schleswig, 1647, and afterwards in several enlarged editions, 1656, etc.) that Olearius is best known, though he also published a history of Holstein ("Kurtzer Begriff einer holsteinischen Chronic", Schleswig, 1663), a famous catalogue of the Holstein-Gottorp cabinet (1666), and a translation of the "Gulistan" ("Persianisches Rosenthal", Schleswig, 1654), to which was appended a translation of the fables of Lokman. A French version of the "Beschreibung" was published by Abraham de Wicquefort ("Voyages en Moscovie, Tartarie et Perse, par Adam Olearius", Paris, 1656), an English version was made by John Davies of Kidwelly ("Travels of the Ambassadors sent by Frederic, Duke of Holstein, to the Great Duke of Muscovy and the King of Persia", London, 1662; and 1669), and a Dutch translation by Dieterius van Wageningen ("Beschrijvingh van de nieuwe Parciaensche ofte Orientaelsche Reyse", Utrecht, 1651); an Italian translation of the Russian sections also appeared ("Viaggi di Moscovia", Viterbo and Rome, 1658). Paul Fleming the poet and J. A. de Mandelslo, whose travels to the East Indies are usually published with those of Olearius, accompanied the embassy. Under Olearius' direction the celebrated globe of Gottorp and armillary sphere were executed between 1654 and 1664; the globe was given to Peter the Great of Russia in 1713 by Duke Frederick's grandson, Christian Augustus. Olearius' unpublished works include a "Lexicon Persicum" and several other Persian studies.

By his lively and well-informed writing he introduced Germany (and the rest of Europe) to Persian literature and culture. Montesquieu depended on him for local color in writing his satiric "Lettres Persanes" ("Persian Letters", 1721), though he used the French translation, "Relation de voyage de Moscovie, Tartarie et de Perse." Among his many translations of Persian literature into German are Saadi's "Golistan": "Persianischer Rosenthal. In welchem viel lustige Historien ... von ... Schich Saadi in Persianischer Sprache beschrieben," printed in Schleswig by Holwein in 1654.

See also

* Globe of Gottorf
* Jürgen Ovens painted his portrait

References

*1911


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  • Adam Olearius — von Jürgen Ovens Adam Olearius (eigentlich Oehlschlegel oder Ölschläger; getauft 24. September 1599 in Aschersleben[1]; † 22. Februar 1671 auf Schloss Gottorf, heute zu Schleswig) war ein …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Adam Olearius — par Jürgen Ovens Adam Olearius (né Adam Ölschläger ou Oehlschlaeger) (aux environs du 16 août 1603 22 février 1671) était un universitaire, mathématicien, géographe et bibliothécaire allemand. Il devint le secrétaire de l ambassadeur que Frédéric …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Olearius — ist die latinisierte Form des Namens Oelschläger. Olearius ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Adam Olearius (1603–1671), deutscher Schriftsteller Cäsar Olearius (Cäsar Theodor Richard Olearius; 1821–1901), deutscher Politiker Georg Philipp… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Olearius — may refer to: Species names Omphalotus olearius, commonly known as the Jack o Lantern mushroom Ranella olearius, a species of large sea snail Family name Adam Olearius (1603–1671), German scholar, mathematician, geographer and librarian See also… …   Wikipedia

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  • Olearĭus — (latinisiert für Ölschläger), 1) Adam, einer der besten deutschen Prosaiker seiner Zeit, geb. 1603 in Aschersleben, gest. 22. Febr. 1671 in Gottorp, studierte in Leipzig, nahm im Auftrage des Herzogs Friedrich III. von Holstein Gottorp an der aus …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Olearius — Olearius,   Adam, eigentlich A. Ölschläger, Oelschläger [ ø ], Pseudonyme u. a. Adonis, Ascanius Olivarius, Schriftsteller, * Aschersleben September 1599, ✝ Schloss Gottorf (heute zu Schleswig) 22. 2. 1671; stud …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Adam Rechenberg — (* 7. September 1642 in Leubsdorf (Sachsen); † 22. Oktober 1721 in Leipzig) war ein lutherischer Theologe. Inhaltsverzeichnis …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Olearĭus — Olearĭus, 1) (eigentlich Ölschläger), Adam, geb. 1599 (1600, 1603) in Aschersleben; studirte in Leipzig, wurde Bibliothekar u. Hofmathematiker des Herzogs Friedrich III. von Holstein Gottorp, folgte 1633 als fürstlicher Rath mit Paul Flemming… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

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