A Iskandar Abkariyüs YALE ORIENTAL SERIES RESEARCHES: VOLUME VII THE LEBANON IN TURMOIL SYRIA AND THE POWERS IN 1860 BOOK OF THE MARVELS OF THE TIME CONCERNING TRANSLATED AND ANNOTATED AND PROVIDED FOREWORD. The Manuscript of which we offer a translation, is known as Nr 759 of the Landberg Collection,' purchased in 1900 by Mr Morris K. Jesup of New York for presentation to Yale University. The publication of our translation was delayed by difficulties that grew out of the war and even now we have to omit, much to our regret, not only the Arabic text but also all Arabic quotations in our commentary and notes, together with such remarks of grammatical, etymological and philological import on the author's vocabulary, and peculiarities of style, as in the printing would require Arabic type. He reveals himself as a Christian by the name of Iskander, son of Ya'qub Abkāriūs. That name indicates Armenian descent; in fact, we know of Armenian protestants who bore it with distinction. Iskander, a brother of John Abkāriūs, praised by the Rev. H. H. Jessup as the finest specimen of a refined Christian gentleman he had known in Syria, who "translated various works into Arabic and prepared an English-Arabic dictionary which is the standard work of that character for both Syria and Egypt," was himself a man of letters of no mean repute.3 Born at Bayrūt, he spent in his early life a few years in Europe and, returned to the place of his birth, became there vice-consul of the United States of America. Afterwards he entered the service of the Egyptian Government but came home to die, February, 1885, at the age of fifty-eight. In addition to his attainments as an Arabic scholar, he was well versed in English. While his introduction to his Book of the Marvels of the Time concerning the Massacres in the Arab Country points to his residence at 1 The history and a description of this important collection from the pen of Professor C. C. Torrey, can be found in The Library Journal of February, 1903. 2 Fifty-three Years in Syria, p. 499. 'His literary reputation rests chiefly on the following works, particulars about which, as about his life, we owe to Dr. F. J. BLISS: a collection of biographies of the Arab poets with selections from their writings, published in 1858; a condensed history of the ancient Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula, published in 1867; a biography of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, written in collaboration with Muḥammad Makkāwy; a biography of Firuz Shah; a collection of poems; three collections of essays; a memorial of his wife, Rujīna. |