Christian Martin Joachim (von) Frähn (4 June 1782 – 16 August 1851),

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

and

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 race; as well as the stu ...

, was born at

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...

Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1701, when Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II divided the Duchy of Mecklenburg between Schwerin and Strelitz. Ruled by the successors of the Nikloting Hous ...

. Frähn began his Oriental studies under

Tychsen Tychsen is a typical Danish surname meaning son of Tycho/Tych after the Danish patronymic naming system. The German form of the name is Tuxen. Tychsen ranks in the top 1000 names in Denmark according to Larsen, Danmarks Statitik 2004. Both notabl ...

at the

university of Rostock The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continen ...

, and afterwards continued them at

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

and

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') 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 thr ...

. He became a Latin master in

Pestalozzi Pestalozzi is the surname of an Italian family originally based in Gravedona and Chiavenna who settled in Switzerland during the Counter-Reformation. Members of this family include: * Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827), Swiss pedagogue an ...

's famous institute in 1804, taught at Rostock as a

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

in 1806, and in the following year was chosen to fill the chair of Oriental languages in the Russian

university of Kazan Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (russian: Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет, tt-Cyrl, Казан (Идел буе) федераль университеты) is a public research uni ...

. Though in 1815 he was invited to succeed Tychsen at Rostock, he preferred to go to

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, where he became director of the

Asiatic museum The Asiatic Museum (Азиатский музей) in Saint Petersburg was one of the first museums of Asian art in Europe. Its existence spanned 112 years from 1818 to 1930 when it was incorporated into the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the ...

and councillor of state. He died at St Petersburg. Frähn wrote over 150 works. Among the more important are: *''Numophylacium orientale Pototianum'' (1813) *''De numorum Bulgharicorum fonte antiquissimo'' (1816) *''Das muhammedanische Münzkabinett des asiatischen Museum der kaiserl. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu St Petersburg'' (1821) *''Numi cufici ex variis museis selecti'' (1823) *''Notice d'une centaine d'ouvrages arabes, &c., qui manquent en grande partie aux bibliothèques de l'Europe'' (1834) *''Nova supplementa ad recensionem Num. Muham. Acad. Imp. Sci. Petropolitanae'' (1855) His description of some medals struck by the

Samanid The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in Kho ...

and Bouid princes (1804) was composed in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

because he had no

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

types.

Correspondence

Frähn had vivid correspondence with other academics. Among them also Samuel Gottlieb Rudolph Henzi, professor in Tartu.Collection of letters i
manuscript archive of Henzi in the University Library of Tartu

Notes

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frahn, Christian Martin 1782 births 1851 deaths German numismatists 19th-century German historians People from the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin University of Rostock alumni University of Rostock faculty University of Göttingen alumni University of Tübingen alumni Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences German male non-fiction writers German librarians Directors of Asiatic Museum