Module: Giuseppe Simone Assemani

IntroductionReadExercisesWorks Cited

Giuseppe Simone Assemani (Yūsuf Simʿān al-Simʿānī يوسف سمعان السمعاني) was born in 1687 in Ḥaṣrūn, Mount Libanon to an illustrious Maronite family of scholars and clergymen.

He was educated at the Maronite College in Rome and then worked at the Vatican Library as scribe and translator. There he also catalogued the early Christian manuscripts that were brought from Egypt by his close relative Elias Assemani in an adventurous journey in 1707. Between 1715 to 1717 Giuseppe Assemani travelled to the Middle East to acquire manuscripts at the request of Pope Clement XI. He brought around 150 manuscripts back to the Vatican Library, mainly from the Nitrian desert monasteries, but also Damascus, Aleppo and Mount Lebanon. By papal commission Assemani was sent on a second journey to the Middle East (1735-38) were he acquired an even larger and more valuable collection of manuscripts.

In 1739 Assemani was appointed First Custodian of the Vatican Library and 1766 became titular Archbishop of Tyre. He died in Rome in January, 1768. Assemani greatly contributed to Syriac studies, his opus magnum Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana, a catalogue of the Oriental manuscripts of the Vatican Library, being the first European history of Syriac literature. He published numerous works, however the majority was destroyed by a fire in his Vatican apartment in 1768. Assemanis manuscript acquisitions form the core of the famous Oriental collection of the Vatican Library.

  • Read about Assemani in one of the reference articles listed in the bibliography below. The most detailed are Oussani 1907 and Hoffmann and Nestle 1896. What do you learn from these about what has become most important about Assemani’s legacy? What do you not learn from these?

Works Cited and Further Reading

Brock, Sebastian P. 2018. “Assemani, Josephus Simonius.” In Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition, edited by Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz, and Lucas Van Rompay. Beth Mardutho. https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Assemani-Josephus-Simonius. Cite
Darauni, A. P. Ioanne Notain. 1881. Per Iosephum Simonium Assemanum, Syro-Maronitam, nunc Primum ex Codice Vaticano. Series Chronologica Patriarcharum Antiochiae. Rome: Ex Typographia Polyglotta. https://via.hypothes.is/https://ia600705.us.archive.org/15/items/SeriesChronologicaPatriarcharumAntioc/Series_chronologica_Patriarcharum_Antioc.pdf. Cite
Fahed, P. Abbé Pierre, and الآباتي بطرس فهد. 1973. L’Évêque Joseph Simon Assémani: Vie et Oeuvres du grand Orientaliste || العلامة المطران يوسف سمعان السمعاني. Jounieh || جونيه: مطابع الكريم الحديثة. http://archive.org/details/lvquejosephsimon0000abbp. Cite
Gemayel, Nasser. n.d. Les Échanges Culturels Entre Les Maronites et l’Europe: Du Collège Maronite de Rome (1584) Au Collège de ʿAyn-Warqa (1789). 2 vols. Beyrouth. https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/search?id=172877&db=100. Cite
Hoffmann, W. G., and Eberhard Nestle. 1897. “Assemani.” In Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche, edited by Johann Jakob Herzog, Albert Hauck, and Hermann Caselmann, 3rd ed., 2:144–47. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung. https://via.hypothes.is/https://ia803201.us.archive.org/20/items/03974188.1286.emory.edu/03974188_1286.pdf#page=151. Cite
Jourdain. 1843. “Assemani (Joseph-Simon).” In Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne: histoire par ordre alphabétique de la vie publique et privée de tous les hommes, edited by M. Michaud, 2:337. Paris: A. Thoisnier Desplaces. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k51642t/f342.image. Cite
Oussani, Gabriel. 1907. “Assemani.” In The Catholic Encyclopedia, edited by Charles G. Herbermann, Edward A. Pace, and Condé B. Pallen. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company. https://via.hypothes.is/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01794a.htm. Cite
Parisot, J. 1908. “Assémani, Joseph-Simon.” In Dictionnaire de théologie catholique: contenant l’exposé des doctrines de la théologie catholique, leurs preuves et leur histoire, edited by Alfred Vacant, Eugene Mangenot, and Emile Amann, 2120–22. Paris: Letouzey et Ané. https://archive.org/details/dictionnairedeth01vaca/page/312. Cite
Petit, Louis. 1924. “Assémani.” In Dictionnaire d’archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, edited by Fernand Cabrol and Henri Leclercq, 1:2973–81. Paris: Librairie Letouzey et Ané. Cite
Raphaël, Pierre. 1950. Le Rôle Du Collège Maronite Romain Dans L’Orientalisme Aux XVIIe et XVIIIe Siècles. Publications Du 75e Anniversaire. Beyrouth: Université Saint Joseph. Cite
Sicard, Charles Jacques Poncet. 1845. Description de l’Égypte. Paris; Lyon: Librairie d’éducation de Perisse frères. https://via.hypothes.is/https://ia800301.us.archive.org/18/items/descriptiondelg00poncgoog/descriptiondelg00poncgoog.pdf. Cite