Simon Ockley
Encyclopedia
Simon Ockley was a British
Orientalist
.
, and graduated B.A. in 1697, MA. in 1701, and B.D. in 1710. He became fellow of Jesus College and vicar of Swavesey
, and in 1711 was chosen Adams 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 in Isaac D'Israeli
's Calamities of Authors.
The preface to the second volume of his History of the Saracens
is dated from Cambridge 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
.
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
Orientalist
Oriental studies
Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...
.
Biography
Ockley was born at Exeter. He was educated at Queens' College, CambridgeQueens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...
, and graduated B.A. in 1697, MA. in 1701, and B.D. in 1710. He became fellow of Jesus College and vicar of Swavesey
Swavesey
Swavesey is a village lying on the Greenwich Meridian in Cambridgeshire, England, with an approximate population of 2,480. The village is situated 9 miles to the north west of Cambridge and 3 miles south east of St...
, and in 1711 was chosen Adams 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 in Isaac D'Israeli
Isaac D'Israeli
Isaac D'Israeli was a British writer, scholar and man of letters. He is best known for his essays, his associations with other men of letters, and for being the father of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli....
's Calamities of Authors.
The preface to the second volume of his History of the Saracens
History of the Saracens
The History of the Saracen Empires is a book written by Simon Ockley of Cambridge University and first published in the early 18th century. The book has been reprinted many times including at London in 1894...
is dated from Cambridge Castle
Cambridge Castle
Cambridge Castle, locally also known as Castle Mound, is located in the town of the same name in Cambridgeshire, England. Originally built after the Norman conquest to control the strategically important route to the north of England, it played a role in the conflicts of the Anarchy, the First and...
, 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
Swavesey
Swavesey is a village lying on the Greenwich Meridian in Cambridgeshire, England, with an approximate population of 2,480. The village is situated 9 miles to the north west of Cambridge and 3 miles south east of St...
.
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 BodleianBodleian LibraryThe Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
of Pseudo-Al-WaqidiAl-WaqidiAbu `Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Omar Ibn Waqid al-Aslami , commonly referred to as al-Waqidi , was an early Muslim historian.He was born and educated in Medina...
's Futúh al-Shám, which is rather historical romance than history.http://www.bartleby.com/220/1202.html - A translation of Leon Modena's History of the Present Jews throughout the World (1707).
- The Improvement of Human Reason, exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn YokdhanHayy ibn YaqdhanḤayy ibn Yaqẓān is an Arabic philosophical novel and allegorical tale written by Ibn Tufail in the early 12th century.- Translations :* from Wikisource* English translations of Hayy bin Yaqzan...
(1708), an English translation of Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, a 12th-century philosophical novelPhilosophical novelPhilosophical fiction refers to works of fiction in which a significant proportion of the work is devoted to a discussion of the sort of questions normally addressed in discursive philosophy. These might include the function and role of society, the purpose of life, ethics or morals, the role of...
by Ibn Tufayl. - Translated from Arabic the Second Book of Esdras
- Sentences of Ali son-in-law of Mahomet, and his fourth successor. Translated from an Arabic manuscript in the Bodleian library at Oxford. London, B. Lintot, 1717.