Adriaan Reland
Adrianus reland (also: Hadrian Relandus, Hadriani Relandi, Adriaan Relland, Adrian reland; born July 17, 1676 in De Rijp, † February 5, 1718 in Utrecht ) was a Dutch Orientalist.
Life
The son of the preacher John reland and his wife Agatha Prins had received his first scientific education than eleven years at the Athenaeum in Amsterdam. At that time they teach Peter Francius (1645-1704) and Willem Surenhuis (* 1664, † 1729 ), where he perfected his knowledge of the Latin language. From Everard van der Hooght (1642-1716), he received the suggestion to deal with the oriental languages such as Hebrew and Chaldean. Early one recognized his skills so that he could refer as the then thirteen years old boy wonder Utrecht University to complete a degree in theology.
His main teacher in the field of theology were Melchior Leydecker, Herman Witsius and Gerhard de Vries ( 1648-1705 ). At the Faculty of Arts, he attended the lectures of Johann Georg Graevius in Hebrew, Johannes Leusden and Jan Luits in philosophy. On a trip to Bremen encouraged him Henricus Sike (1669-1712), who later became professor of oriental languages at Cambridge University, to deal with Arabic. Already at the age of seventeen he had acquired in 1694 with the dissertation " De Libertate philosophandi " ( the freedom of philosophizing ) the academic degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
After six years in Utrecht, he went to the University of Leiden. Here he devoted himself with Wolfgang Senkward of experimental physics and was a tutor at Hans Willem Bentinck. Those influential relationship it may have been that he received in 1699 an appointment as professor of physics and metaphysics at the University of Harderwijk. However, he should not stay long here. In 1701 he gave his inaugural address as professor of Oriental languages at the University of Utrecht, which was in 1713 extended to the teaching of the Jewish Antiquities. This office he administered to his death, which was caused by a disease of smallpox. 1708/ 09 he served as rector of the university.
In 1695 he was sent on an expedition to the Holy Land, where he was surprised that there only very few Arab- Bedouin lived: the majority were Jews and Christians. This realization startled him so much that he began to grasp the particular places and their populations from a scientific curiosity. He visited about 2,500 places that were mentioned in the Bible, the Talmud and the Michna. Its elevations are 300 years later important to the Palestinian conflict and the charges in this connection Arab tenure -ligand came to the conclusion that - except for Ramallah - none of the villages having a name of Arab origin. The largest part of the country was - contrary to European idea - empty, barren, inhospitable and very sparsely populated, with the population concentrated in the cities of Jerusalem, Acco, Tzfat, Jaffa, Tiberius and Gaza. Most of the inhabitants were Jews and the rest Christians. There were only a few nomadic Arab Bedouin. The results of his survey he published in the book Palestine, ex Monumentis veteribus illustrata, published by Trajecti Batavorum: Ex Libraria G. Brodelet, 1714
Reland had acquired as a Latin poet and philologist of the Netherlands in his time an excellent reputation. In his oriental studies he tried to incorporate also South and East Asian subjects. His most important work was first published in the 1705 mohammedica religione who underwent further restrictions and Europe caught on throughout. He had also worked successfully in the field of Hebrew antiquities and cartography.
Works
- Galatea, Lusus poetica. Amsterdam 1701, 1724 ( 4th edition? ), 1735, 1739, 1747, 1809, Stuttgart 1845 Dutch translation: Galatea, een dichterlijke speling. Utrecht 1837
- Translated Dutch: Verhandeling van de godsdienst the Mahometaanen than mede van het krygs excited by hair ten tyde van de oorlog tegens Christenen gebruykelyk. Utrecht 1718
- English translation: Of the Mahometan religion, two books. Londen 1712
- German translated: Zwey books by the Turkish or Mohammedischen religion. Hannover 1716 1717
- Translated into French: La religion of the Mahometans Exposée par leurs propres Docteurs, avec des éclaircissemens sur les opinions qu'on leur a faussement attribuées. The Hague 1721
- Dutch translated Palestina opgeheldert, ofte de situated theyd van het Joodsche country. Utrecht 1719