Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall (June 9, 1774 - November 23, 1856) was an Austrian orientalist. June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining. ... 1774 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 38 days remaining. ... 1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Orientalism is the study of Near and Far Eastern societies and cultures by Westerners. ...

Born Joseph von Hammer in Graz, Styria, he received his early education mainly in Vienna. Entering the diplomatic service in 1796, he was appointed in 1799 to a position in the Austrian embassy in Constantinople, and in this capacity he took part in the expedition under Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith and General Sir John Hely-Hutchinson against the French. In 1807 he returned home from the East, after which he was made a privy councillor, and, on inheriting, in 1835, the estates of the Countess Purgstall in Styria, was given the title of Freiherr. Graz [graːts] (Slovenian: Gradec, pronounced grah-dets), with a population of 305,000 (council census 2000) is the second-largest city in Austria and the capital of the federal state of Styria (Steiermark in German). ... Styria (Steiermark in German, Štajerska in Slovenian) is a federal state or Bundesland, located in the south east of Austria. ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]) is the capital of Austria, and also one of Austrias nine federal states (Bundesland Wien). ... 1796 was a leap year starting on Friday. ... 1799 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Map of Constantinople. ... This article is about Sidney Smith, the English naval officer. ... John Hely-Hutchinson (1724 - September 4, 1794), Irish lawyer, statesman, and provost of Trinity College, Dublin, son of Francis Hely, a gentleman of County Cork, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and was called to the Irish bar in 1748. ... 1807 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Freiherr (German for Free Lord) is a title of lower nobility in Germany, and Austria-Hungary, considered equal to the title Baron. ...

For fifty years Hammer-Purgstall wrote incessantly on the most diverse subjects and published numerous texts and translations of Arabic, Persian and Turkish authors. It was natural that a scholar who traversed so large a field should lay himself open to the criticism of specialists, and he was severely handled by Friedrich Christian Diez (1794-1876), who, in his Unfug und Betrug (1815), devoted to him nearly 600 pages of abuse. Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... Persian (فارسی), (local name in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan: Fârsi), Pârsi (older local name, but still used by some speakers), Tajik (a Central Asian dialect) or Dari (Another local name in Tajikistan, Afghanistan), is a language spoken in Iran,Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain. ... Friedrich Christian Diez (March 15, 1794 - May 29, 1876), German philologist, was born at Giessen, in Hesse-Darmstadt. ...

Hammer-Purgstall did for Germany the same work that Sir William Jones did for England and Silvestre de Sacy for France. He was, like his younger but greater English contemporary, Edward William Lane, with whom he came into friendly conflict on the subject of the origin of The Thousand and One Nights, an assiduous worker, and in spite of many faults did more for oriental studies than most of his critics put together. Sir William Jones (September 28, 1746 - April 27, 1794) was a British philologist and student of ancient India, particularly known for his discovery of the Indo-European languages family. ... Antoine Isaac, baron Silvestre de Sacy (September 21, 1758 - February 21, 1838), was a French orientalist. ... Edward William Lane (1801 - 1876), Arabic scholar, son of a prebendary of Hereford, where he was born, began life as an engraver, but going to Egypt in search of health, devoted himself to the study of Oriental languages and manners, and adopted the dress and habits of the Egyptian man... The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (كتاب ألف ليلة و ليلة in Arabic or هزار و یک شب in Persian), also known as The book of a Thousand Nights and a Night, 1001 Arabian Nights, or simply the Arabian Nights, is a piece of classic Arabic literature in...

Hammer-Purgstall's principal work is his Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches (10 vols., 1827-1835). Among his other works are Constantinopolis und der Bosporos (1822); Sur les origines russes (St Petersburg, 1825); Geschichte der osmanischen Dichtkunst (1836); Geschichte der Goldenen Horde in Kiptschak (1840); Geschichte der Chane der Krim (1856); and an unfinished Litteraturgeschichte der Araber (1850-1856). He also wrote Khlesls, des Cardinals Leben. Mit der Sammlung von Khlesls Briefen und anderen Urkunden (4 vols., 1847-1851), a four volume biography of Melchior Cardinal Khlesl. Melchior Cardinal Klesl Melchior Klesl (sometimes Khlesl, rarely Cleselius) (February 19, 1552 - September 18, 1630) was an Austrian statesman and cardinal of the Roman Catholic church during the time of the Counter-Reformation. ...

Hammer-Purgstall supported the foundation of the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (en: Austrian Academy of Sciences) in Vienna and became the Academy's first president (1847-1849). The Austrian Orient society, Österreichische Orient-Gesellschaft Hammer-Purgstall, is named after him. It was founded in 1959 to foster cultural relations with the Near East and to attend to the needs of university students from the Near East studying in Austria.

He died in Vienna.

Notes

• Note regarding personal names: Freiherr is a title, usually translated Baron, not a first or middle name.