Josef Markwart

Josef Markwart, Leiden

Josef Markwart(originally spelled JosefMarquart:December 9, 1864 inReichenbach am Heuberg– February 4, 1930 inBerlin) was a Germanhistorianandorientalist.He specialized in Turkish and Iranian Studies and thehistory of the Middle East.

TheEncyclopædia Iranicawrote that "His books are full of profound and nearly inexhaustible erudition, revealing that their author was a learned historian, philologist, geographer, and ethnologist."The encyclopedia cited his 1901 bookĒrānšahras "still an authoritative work and probably his most important."

Biography

He attendedTübingen Universityin Germany, where he studiedCatholic theology,and then later switched his studies to classicalphilologyand history. In 1889 he worked as an assistant to Eugen Prym, an orientalist author. His doctoralthesisAssyriaka des Ktesiaswas accepted and he graduated in 1892. In 1897 he began as a lecturer inancient history.

In 1900 he moved toLeiden,The Netherlands and became acuratorat theMuseum Volkenkunde(Ethnographical Museum).

In 1902 he was appointed to the position of assistant professor for languages of the Christian Orient atLeiden University.In 1912 he moved toBerlinand became a full Professor ofIranianandArmenianstudies atBerlin University.He taught in Berlin for the remainder of his life, even giving a noon lecture on the day of his death in 1930.

In 1922 he changed his last name from "Marquart" to "Markwart". TheEncyclopædia Iranicastated that this paralleled "his tendency to make use of an idiosyncraticorthographyin his writings. "

His most famous pupil was the Italian OrientalistGiuseppe Messina.

Works

• Ērānšahr nach der Geographie des Ps. Moses Xoranacʽi(1901)
• Osteuropäische und ostasiatische Streifzüge(1903, reprinted 1961)
• Südarmenien und die Tigrisquellen(1930)
• A catalogue of the provincial capitals of Ērānshahr(published posthumously, 1931)