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AMARI, MICHELE (1806—1889)
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See also:AMARI, MICHELE (1806—1889) , See also:Italian orientalist and patriot, was See also:born at See also:Palermo. From his earliest youth he imbibed liberal principles from his relatives, especially from his See also:grand-See also:father, and although at the See also:age of fourteen he was appointed clerk in the See also:Bourbon See also:civil service, he joined the See also:Carbonari like many other See also:young Sicilians and actively sympathized with the revolution of 182o. The See also:movement, which was separatist in its tendencies, was quickly suppressed, but the conspiracies continued, and Amari's father, implicated in that of 1822, was arrested and condemned to See also:death together with many others; but his See also:sentence was commuted to imprisonment, and in 1834 he was liberated. Michele Amari still held his clerkship, but he regarded the Neapolitan See also:government with increasing hatred, and he led a See also:life of active See also:physical exercise to See also:train himself for the See also:day of revolution. He devoted much of his See also:time to the study of See also:English and of See also:history; his first See also:literary See also:essay was a See also:translation of See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott's Marmion (1832), and in 1839 he published a See also:work on the Sicilian See also:Vespers, entitled Un Periodo delle storie Sid/See also:lane del XIII. secolo, filled with See also:political allusions reflecting unfavourably on the government. The See also:book had an immediate success and went through many See also:editions, but it brought the author under the suspicion of the authorities, and in 1842 he escaped from a See also:boat just as he was about to be arrested. He settled in See also:Paris, where he came in contact with a number of literary men, such as See also:Michelet and See also:Thierry, as well as with the Italian exiles. Having no private means he had to See also:earn a See also:precarious livelihood by literature. He was much struck with certain See also:French See also:translations of Arabic See also:works on See also:Sicily,which awoke in him a See also:desire to read the authors in the See also:original. With the assistance of Prof. See also:Reinaud and See also:Baron de Slane he soon acquired See also:great proficiency in Arabic, and his translations and editions of See also:oriental texts, as well as his See also:historical essays, made him a reputation. In 1844 he began his great work La Storia dei Musulmani in Sicilia, but the revolution of 1848 plunged. him into politics once more. His pamphlet, Quelques Observations See also:sue le droll public de la Sicile, advocating the revival of the 18r 2 constitution ; for the See also:island, met with great success, and on arriving at Palermo,-See also:AMASIA 7 8 I whence the Bourbon government had been expelled, he was chosen member of the See also:war See also:committee and appointed See also:professor of public See also:law at the university. At the See also:general elections Amari was returned for Palermo and became See also:minister of See also:finance in the Stabile See also:cabinet. On is fall he was sent to Paris and See also:London to try to obtain help for the struggling island; having failed in his See also:mission he returned to Sicily in 1849, hoping to fight. But the Neapolitan troops had re-occupied the island, the Liberals were in disagreement among themselves, and Amari with several other notables with difficulty escaped to See also:Malta. Characteristic of his scholarly nature is the fact that he delayed his See also:flight to take the impress of an important Arabic inscription. He returned to Paris, sad and dejected at the collapse of the movement, and devoted himself once more to his Arabic studies. He published a work on the See also:chronology of the See also:Koran, for which he received a See also:prize from the Academia See also:des See also:Inscriptions, edited the Solwan el Mots by See also:Ibn Zafer (a curious collection of philosophical thoughts) and Ibn Haukal's Description of Palermo, and in 1854 the first See also:volume of his history of the Mahommedans in Sicily appeared. He received a meagre See also:stipend for cataloguing the Arabic See also:MSS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale, and he contributed many articles to the reviews. Although a See also:firm friend of Mazzini, he discouraged the latter's premature conspiracies. In 1859, after the See also:expulsion of the central Italian despots, Amari was appointed professor of Arabic at See also:Pisa and afterwards at See also:Florence. But when See also:Garibaldi and his thousand had conquered Sicily, Amari returned to his native island, and was given an See also:appointment in the government. Although intensely Sicilian in sentiment, he became one of the staunchest See also:advocates of the See also:union of Sicily with See also:Italy, and was subsequently made senator of the See also:kingdom at See also:Cavour's instances He was minister of See also:education in the See also:Farini and See also:Minghetti cabinets, but on the fall of the latter in 1864, he resumed his professorship at Florence and spent the See also:rest of his life in study. His circle of acquaintances, both in Italy and abroad, was very large, and his See also:sound scholarship was appreciated in all countries. He died in 1889, loaded with honours. The last volume of his Storia dei Musulmani appeared in 1873, and in addition to the above-mentioned works he published many others on oriental and historical subjects. His work on the Sicilian Vespers was re-written as La Guerra del Vespro (9th ed., See also:Milan, 1886). He was the See also:pioneer of Arabic studies in See also:modern Italy, and he still remains the See also:standard authority on the Mussulman domination in Sicily, though his See also:judgment on religious questions is sometimes warped by a violently See also:anti-clerical See also:bias. See A. D'See also:Ancona, Carteggio di Michele Amari coil' elogio di lui (See also:Turin, 1896) ; and Oreste Tommasini's essay in his Scritti di storia e critica (See also:Rome, 1891). (L. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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