Carlo Alfonso Nallino
Encyclopedia
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
He was born in TurinTurin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, and studied literature in the University of Turin
University of Turin
The University of Turin is a university in the city of Turin in the Piedmont region of north-western Italy...
. At the age of 21 he published is first treatise on Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
geography and astronomy. This was followed by a work on Al-Battani
Al-Battani
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jābir ibn Sinān al-Raqqī al-Ḥarrānī al-Ṣābiʾ al-Battānī was a Muslim astronomer, astrologer, and mathematician...
(1899–1907) which gained him international recognition. From 1896 he taught in the Istituto Universitario Orientale of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
and then at the University of Palermo
University of Palermo
The University of Palermo is a university located in Palermo, Italy, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties.-History:The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although its earliest roots date back to 1498 when medicine and law were taught there...
(1902–1913). In 1900 he published a book on the Egyptian Arab dialect, which gained him the permission of King Fuad I of Egypt
Fuad I of Egypt
Fuad I was the Sultan and later King of Egypt and Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, Kordofan, and Darfur. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, he became Sultan of Egypt and Sudan in 1917, succeeding his elder brother Sultan Hussein Kamel...
to work at the Egyptian Khedive University. Amongs his pupils was Taha Husayn, later Minister of the Interiors.
Later Nallino became ordinary professor at the University La Sapienza of Rome, where, in 1921, he had founded the Istituto per l'Oriente, which published the magazine Oriente Moderno. In 1933 he was named member of the Royal Academy of Arab Language in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, and he was a member of the Italian Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and of the Royal Academy of Italy
Royal Academy of Italy
The Royal Academy of Italy was an organization of Italian academians, intellectuals, and cultural figures created on 7 January 1926 by the Fascist government of the Kingdom of Italy by a royal decree, and effectively dissolved in 1943....
. In 1938 he travelled for two months in the Arabic Peninsula, but he died shortly afterwards in Rome for a cardiac crisis after publishing only the first volumes of the studies about his trip.
See also
- Istituto per l'Oriente Carlo Alfonso Nallino