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Jacobus Golius

Jacob Golius (born '''Jacob van Gool''', a.k.a. ''Jacob Gohl'' (German) and ''Iacobo Golio'' (Italian)), (1596, The Hague-September 28, 1667, Leiden), was a Netherlands|Dutch oriental studies|Orientalist and mathematician. Golius came to the University of Leiden in 1612 to study mathematics. In 1618 he registered again to study Arabic language|Arabic and other Eastern languages, where he was the most distinguished pupil of Erpenius. In 1622 he accompanied the Dutch embassy to Morocco, and on his return he was chosen to succeed Erpenius (May 12, 1625). In the following year he set out on a Syrian and Arabian tour from which he did not return until 1629. The remainder of his life was spent at Leiden where he held the chair of mathematics as well as that of Arabic. His most important work is the ''Lexicon Arabico-Latinum'', (Leiden, 1653), which, based on the ''Sihah'' of Al-Jauhari, was only superseded by the corresponding work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Freytag|Freytag in 1837. Among his earlier publications may be mentioned editions of various Arabic texts (''Proverbia quaedam Alis, imperatoris Muslemici, et Carmen Tograipoetae doctissimi, necnon dissertatio quaedam Aben Synae'', 1629; and ''Ahmedis Arabsiadae vitae et rerum gestarum Timuri, gui vulgo Tamer, lanes dicitur, historia'', 1636). In 1656 he published a new edition, with considerable additions, of the ''Grammatica Arabica'' of Erpenius. After his death, there was found among his papers a ''Dictionarium Persico-Latinum'' which was published, with additions, by Edmund Castell in his ''Lexicon heptaglotton'' (1669). Golius also edited, translated and annotated the astronomical treatise of Alfragan (''Muhammedis, filii Ketiri Ferganensis, qui vulgo Alfraganus dicitur, elementa astronomica Arabice et Latine'', 1669). Golius taught mathematics to the French philosopher René Descartes, and later corresponded with him. It is therefore highly probable that he was able to read to him parts of the mathematical Arabic texts he had started to collect, among others on the Conics. Jacobus Golius played a role in convincing Europeans about the Jesuit China missions|Jesuits' discovery that the mysterious Cathay, visited by Marco Polo and other travelers in the 13th century was the same country as China, reached by the Portuguese sailors in the early 16th century. Although Golius knew no Chinese, he was familiar with ''Zij-i Ilkhani'', a work by the Persian astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, completed in 1272, in which he had described the Chinese Calendar|"Cathayan" Calendar.van Dalen, Benno; Kennedy, E.S.; Saiyid, Mustafa K., «The Chinese-Uighur Calendar in Tusi's Zij-i Ilkhani», Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften 11 (1997) 111–151 When the China-based Jesuit Martino Martini visited Leyden in 1654, the curious Golius arranged to meet him. As Golius started reciting the names of the Earthly Branches|12 divisions into which, according to Nasir al-Din, the "Cathayans" were dividing the day, Martini, who of course knew no Persian, was able to continue the list. The names of the 24 solar terms matched reported by Nasir al-Din matched those that Martinini had learned in China as well. The story, soon published by Martini in the "Additamentum" to his Atlas of China, seemed to have finally convinced most Europeans scholars that China and Cathay were the same.. Volume III, "A Century of Advance", Book Four, "East Asia", p. 1577.

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- Bio a the Baheyeldin Dynasty site Category:1596 births Category:1667 deaths Category:Dutch mathematicians Category:Dutch orientalists Category:Arabists Category:People from The Hague Category:Leiden University faculty

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