Antiochus or Antioch Kantemir or Cantemir (russian: Антиох Дмитриевич Кантемир, ''Antiokh Dmitrievich Kantemir''; ro, Antioh Cantemir; tr, Antioh Kantemiroğlu; french: Antioche Cantemir; 8 September 1708 – 31 March 1744) was a

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...

n who served as a man of letters, diplomat, and prince during the

Russian Enlightenment The Russian Age of Enlightenment was a period in the 18th century in which the government began to actively encourage the proliferation of arts and sciences, which had a profound impact on Russian culture. During this time, the first Russian unive ...

. He has been called "the father of

Russian poetry This is a list of authors who have written poetry in the Russian language. Alphabetical list A B C D E F G I K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z Sources See also * List of Russian archite ...

Life

Kantemir was born into a noble Moldavian family at Iaşi on 8 September 1708. His illiterate grandfather Constantin had been made

voivode of Moldavia This is a list of rulers of Moldavia, from the first mention of the medieval polity east of the Carpathians and until its disestablishment in 1862, when it united with Wallachia, the other Danubian Principality, to form the modern-day state of Ro ...

by the Ottomans in 1685 and was succeeded by his well-educated sons

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

and

Demetrius Demetrius is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning “Demetris” - "devoted to goddess Demeter". Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, Dimitri, Dimitrie, Dimitar, Dumi ...

. Kantemir was the son of Demetrius by his wife, the Princess Kassandra Cantacuzene, who claimed descent from the Byzantine dynasty of the same name. He spent much of his youth in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

as a hostage to the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

. He was then educated by his father and at the St Petersburg

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

before moving to the family estate near

Dmitrovsk Dmitrovsk (russian: Дмитро́вск) is a town and the administrative center of Dmitrovsky District in Oryol Oblast, Russia, located on the Obshcheritsa River near its confluence with the Nerussa, southwest of Oryol, the administrative c ...

. He served as the Russian ambassador at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

from 1731 to 1736, when he was relocated to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

to serve as Russia's

minister plenipotentiary An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...

to the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period ...

. There, he became a noted intellectual and a close friend of

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the princi ...

and

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...

. Kantemir died a bachelor in

amid litigation concerning his illegitimate children.

Work

Considered "the father of

Russian poetry This is a list of authors who have written poetry in the Russian language. Alphabetical list A B C D E F G I K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z Sources See also * List of Russian archite ...

", Kantemir used his classical education to assist Peter the Great's programme of modernizing and westernizing

Russian culture Russian culture (russian: Культура России, Kul'tura Rossii) has been formed by the nation's history, its geographical location and its vast expanse, religious and social traditions, and Western influence. Russian writers and ph ...

. His most noticeable effort in this regard is his ''Petrida'', an unfinished epic glorifying the emperor. He produced a

tract Tract may refer to: Geography and real estate * Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots * Land lot or tract, a section of land * Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census ...

on old Russian versification in 1744 and numerous

ode An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...

s and

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse (poetry), verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphized, and that illustrat ...

s. His use of gallic rhyme schemes can make his work seem antiquated and awkward to modern readers. He edited his father's ''History of the Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire'' in England and wrote a biography and bibliography of his father which later accompanied its 1756 edition. His 1742 ''Letters on Nature and Man'' (''O Prirode i Cheloveke'') was a philosophical work. He is best remembered for his

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

s in the manner of

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the '' Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...

, including ''To My Mind: On Those Who Blame Education'' and ''On the Envy and Pride of Evil-Minded Courtiers'', which were among the first such works in the Russian language. Kantemir translated Horace and

Anacreon Anacreon (; grc-gre, Ἀνακρέων ὁ Τήϊος; BC) was a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and erotic poems. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ...

into Russian, as well as Algarotti's '' Dialogues on Light and Colors''. He also translated De Fontenelle's ''

Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds ''Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds'' (french: Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes) is a popular science book by French author Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, published in 1686. Content The work consists of six lessons popularizing ...

'', in 1730. When Kantemir's teacher, Christopher Gross, asked the academy to publish the translation, the responsible manager of the chancellery,

Johann Daniel Schumacher Johann Daniel Schumacher (Russian: Ива́н Дани́лович Шума́хер; German: Johann Daniel von Schumacher; 5 February 1690 – 14 June 1761) was the secretary of the Russian Academy of Sciences and director of the Library of the Russ ...

, wanted to first get permission from the government and the Holy Synod. Correspondence regarding the matter dragged on until 1738, when permission to publish was finally given, but the book was not published until 1740.Веселитский В. В., ''Антиох Кантемир и развитие русского литературного языка'' (1974), p. 20. Kantemir's own works were translated into French by the Abbé Guasco, who also penned his biography.

Notes

References

* * * .

External links

A collection of Kantemir's poetry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kantemir, Antiochus 1708 births 1744 deaths Saint Petersburg State University alumni Antiochus Enlightenment philosophers Writers from Iași Diplomats of the Russian Empire Essayists from the Russian Empire Male essayists Russian literary critics Russian philosophers Poets from the Russian Empire Male writers from the Russian Empire Russian male poets Translators from the Russian Empire 18th-century Romanian people Russian people of Romanian descent Russian people of Crimean Tatar descent Russian people of Greek descent Ambassadors of the Russian Empire to France Ambassadors of the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom 18th-century translators from the Russian Empire