Carl Eduard Sachau (20 July 1845 – 17 September 1930) was a German orientalist. He taught Josef Horovitz and Eugen Mittwoch.

Biography

He studied oriental languages at the Universities of

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, obtaining his PhD at

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

in 1867. Sachau became a professor extraordinary of Semitic

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

(1869) and a full professor (1872) at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...

, and in 1876, a professor at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

, where he was appointed director of the new Seminar of Oriental languages (1887). Sachau travelled to the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

on several occasions (see his book ''Reise in Syrien und Mesopotamien'', published 1883) and became known for his work on Syriac and other

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

dialects. He was an expert on Persian polymath Al-Biruni and wrote a translation of ''Kitab ta'rikh al-Hind'', Al-Biruni's encyclopedic work on

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. Sachau also wrote papers on

Ibadi Islam The Ibadi movement or Ibadism ( ar, الإباضية, al-Ibāḍiyyah) is a school of Islam. The followers of Ibadism are known as the Ibadis. Ibadism emerged around 60 years after the Islamic prophet Muhammad's death in 632 AD as a moderate s ...

. While a student at Kiel, he became part of the fraternity ''Teutonia Kiel'' (1864). He was a member of the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and the

Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...

, and an honorary member of the Royal Asiatic Society in

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 ...

and the

American Oriental Society The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship. The Society encourages basi ...

. He worked as a consultant in the planning and construction of the Baghdad Railway. Among his better known students was Eugen Mittwoch, a founder of modern Islamic studies in Germany. He received the honorary degree

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...

(D.Litt.) from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in October 1902, in connection with the tercentenary of the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...

Bibliography

* ''Inedita Syriaca. Eine Sammlung syrischer Übersetzungen von Schriften griechischer Profanliteratur'', 1870 – A collection of Syriac translations of writings from Greek secular literature. * ''Chronologie orientalischer Völker'', 1878, English translation. ''Chronology of Ancient Nations'', 1879 – Translation of Abū l-Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī's ''al-Āthār al-bāqiya ʿan al-qurūn al-ḫāliya'' (''Vestiges of the Past'', 1000). * ''Reise in Syrien und Mesopotamien'', Leipzig, F.A. Brockhaus, 1883 – Journey to

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

. * ''Muhammedanisches Recht nach schafiitischer Lehre'', Stuttgart, Berlin, W. Spemann, 1897 – Islamic law according to

Shafi'i The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...

doctrine. German translation and explanation of Mukhtasar Abī Shujāʿ according to Ibrāhīm al-Bājūrī with the original Arabic text. * ''Am Euphrat und Tigris : Reisenotizen aus dem Winter 1897-1898'', Leipzig : J.C. Hinrichs, 1900 – The

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

and

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

, travelogue in the winter of 1897–1898. * "Three Aramaic Papyri from Elephantine, Egypt" in ''Smithsonian Institution Annual Report'' (1907): 605–11. Königlich_Preußischen_Akademie_der_Wissenschaften_for_the_year_1907..html" ;"title="Prussian Academy of Sciences">Königlich Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften for the year 1907.">Prussian Academy of Sciences">Königlich Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften for the year 1907.* ''Alberuni's India. An account of the religion, philosophy, literature, geography, chronology, astronomy, customs, laws and astrology of India about A.D. 1030'', (published in English) London, K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1910. * ''Die Chronik von Arbela, ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis des ältesten Christentums im Orient'', Berlin, Verlag der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, in Kommission bei Georg Reimer, 1915 – The chronicle of Arbela, a contribution to the knowledge of the oldest Christianity in the Orient. * ''Arabische Erzählungen aus der Zeit der Kalifen'', München: Hyperionverlag, 1920 – Arabic tales from the time of the Caliphs.WorldCat Identities
Most widely held works by Eduard Sachau

Papers related to Ibadism

* Sachau, Eduard: (1894) Muhammedanisches Erbrecht nach der Lehre der ibaditischen Araber von Zanzibar und Ostafrika. ''Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der'' ''Wissenschaften zu Berlin'', VIII (1894), 159–210. * Sachau, Eduard: (1898a) aḥyà ibn Khalfān al-KharūṣiDas Gutachten eines muhammedanischen Juristen über die muhammedanischen Rechtsverhältnisse in Ost-Afrika. ''Mitteilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen an der königlichen Friedrich Wilhelms-'' ''Universität zu Berlin'', Jahrgang I (1898), Abt. III, 1–8. * Sachau, Eduard: (1898b) Über eine arabische Chronik aus Zanzibar. ''Mittheilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen an der königlichen Friedrich Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin'', ''Westasiatische Studien'' (Berlin), I. Band, Abtheilung 2 (1898), 1-19. * Sachau, Eduard: (1899) Über die religiösen Anschauungen der ibadhitischen Muhammedaner in Oman und Ostafrika. ''Mittheilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen an der'' ''königlichen Friedrich Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin'', ''Westasiatische Studien'' (Berlin), Band II, 2. Abtheilung (1899) 47–82.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sachau, Eduard Syriacists German orientalists German philologists 1845 births 1930 deaths Academics of the University of Vienna People from Neumünster Humboldt University of Berlin faculty University of Kiel alumni Leipzig University alumni German male non-fiction writers Ibadi Islam Ibadi studies Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy