Alois Musil

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Alois Musil (1891)

Alois Musil (born June 30, 1868 in Rychtařov , Austria-Hungary , † April 12, 1944 in Otryby , Czechoslovakia ) was an Austrian - Czech orientalist , theologian , cultural anthropologist and geographer . During the First World War he was temporarily the opponent of TE Lawrence ( Lawrence of Arabia ).

Life

Origin and family

Alois Musil grew up as the eldest son of a poor Moravian farming family in the countryside. He was a second cousin of the writer Robert Musil . Her grandfathers Franz and Matthias were brothers.

academic career

Thanks to a scholarship from the Archbishop of Olomouc , Musil was able to study Catholic theology at the Palacký University there from 1887 and later continue his studies in the Middle East. After first dealing with the religious conditions in Bohemia and Moravia in the 17th and 18th centuries, he later concentrated on fundamental questions of monotheism in Judaism , Christianity and Islam . He was ordained a priest in 1891 and received his doctorate in theology in 1895. In the same year, 1895, he began to study oriental languages ​​at the École biblique of the French Dominicans in Jerusalem. From 1897 to 1898 he studied at the Jesuit University of Beirut , and in 1899 in London, Cambridge and Berlin. From 1902 to 1909 he was professor of Old Testament Bible studies at the University of Olomouc and from 1909 to 1920 professor of auxiliary biblical studies and Arabic at the University of Vienna. From 1920 to 1938 he was Professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Prague, where he founded the Oriental Institute.

Research trips

After 1895, Musil undertook a number of extensive research trips through Arabia and the Holy Land . His map series Arabia Petraea from 1907 formed the first scientific description of the area east of the Jordan, based on an exact survey. It contained an inventory of Nabataean antiquities, including the ruins of Petra . The discovery of the Umayyad or desert castles east of Amman was also important . The Qusair 'Amra Castle was particularly important because the paintings there, which were still in good condition at the time, showed that early Islamic art was by no means without images, but also featured depictions of people and animals. Musil owed the high accuracy of the maps in his works to Sergeant Rudolf Thomasberger, a cartographer who accompanied him on many of his travels. In 1906, at the request of the British Foreign Minister Edward Gray, he wrote an opinion on the question of the border between Egypt, which had been under British occupation since 1882 , and the Ottoman Empire .

The research trips and the publications of Musil opened up a hitherto little known area of ​​East Jordan and Arabia as well as the living conditions and customs of the Arab tribes living there. Musil enjoyed great trust from them. As Sheikh Musa he was accepted into the tribe of the Rwala Bedouins. From 1898 to 1935 Musil, who published writings in Czech , German and Arabic , was a professor at various universities in Olomouc , Vienna and Prague .

Relations with the House of Habsburg

From 1909 Musil was professor for Biblical auxiliary sciences and Arabic languages ​​at the theological faculty of the University of Vienna . During this time he developed a close relationship with the House of Habsburg . In 1912 he went on a trip to the Orient together with Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma , brother of the heir to the throne consort and later Empress Zita . Musil was considered a "gray eminence" at court and was at times compared with Rasputin . Musil may also have been in the background of the Sixtus affair of 1917, secret special peace negotiations with France.

Role in the First World War

Alois Musil (1898)

During the First World War, Musil undertook trips to the Ottoman Empire on behalf of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph in 1914/15 and 1917. He was supposed to mediate between the Sublime Porte in Constantinople , which was allied with Austria-Hungary and the German Empire , and the Arab princes who sympathized with the English . At least he succeeded in preventing the North Arabian tribes from direct insurrection. As a result, the efforts of his opponent on the British side, Thomas Edward Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") only succeeded when they were no longer decisive for the outcome of the war.

Career after the war

Musil originally intended to stay in Vienna after the First World War. Due to his clear association with Czech culture, the Republic of Austria did not offer him the prospect of continuing his employment at the university. When this was corrected, Musil had already moved to Czechoslovakia . His close connection to the Habsburgs stood in the way of his further scientific career there. Nevertheless, from 1920 to 1935, Musil was professor of oriental auxiliary sciences and Arabic at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Prague . Between 1923 and 1928 he traveled to the USA several times to promote the publication of his works in English. By 1928, six volumes of Musil's research had appeared in the American Geographical Society's Oriental Explorations and Studies series . Musil remained an observer of the conditions in the Middle East throughout his life, but no longer traveled there. He published about it again and again and also gave lectures at the Prague Technological Institute. As a priest and theologian, he also participated repeatedly in biblical discussions. During his Prague years, Musil lived in the Convent of the Brothers of Mercy . After his retirement in 1938 he retired to an estate in the village of Otryby in Central Bohemia.

Aftermath

Unlike his counterpart Lawrence, Musil did not become a celebrated legend after the end of the First World War. During the war his diplomatic work on the part of the Ottoman Empire was no less successful, but externally less spectacular than the Arab uprising promoted by Lawrence . In addition, the Ottomans and Musil's homeland Austria-Hungary were among the losers in the end. Above all, however, Musil's scientific research reports, unlike Lawrence's literarily demanding descriptions in “ The Seven Pillars of Wisdom ”, were not suitable as the basis for a heroic legend.

Works

  • Kuseir 'Amra and other castles east of Moab , Vienna 1902
  • Seven Samaritan inscriptions from Damascus , Vienna 1903
  • Od stvoření do potopy (From Creation to the Flood) , Prague 1905
  • On the trail of the history of the Old Testament , 2 vol., Olomouc 1906/07
  • Kuseir 'Amra , 2 vols., Vienna 1907
  • Arabia Petraea , 4 vols., Vienna 1907/08
  • Ethnological travelogue , Vienna 1908
  • In northern Hegaz , Vienna 1911
  • On the contemporary history of Arabia , Leipzig 1918
  • Arabia Deserta: a Topographical Itinerary , New York 1927
  • The Manners and Customs of the Rwala Bedouins , New York 1928
  • In the Arabian Desert , arranged for publication by Katherine McGiffort, New York 1930
  • Krest'anské Církve dnešního orienta (The Christian Churches of Today's Orient) , Olomouc 1939
  • From 1910 to 1933 more than 1,500 articles, contributions to compilations etc. Newspaper articles, the most important of which are collected in: Dnešní Orient , 11 vols., Prague 1934–1941.

literature

  • Johannes Bauer: Alois Musil - nomad between nations, religions, cultures and sciences. In: Charlotte Trümpler (Ed.): The Great Game. Archeology and Politics during the Colonial Period (1860–1940). Book accompanying the exhibition at the Ruhr Museum Essen, DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-8321-9063-7 , pp. 125–135.
  • Karl Johannes Bauer: Alois Musil: theologian, researcher, scholar and tribal sheik. A presentation of his life in the service of Austrian research and the connection between the monarchy and the Turkish-Arab Orient. Dissertation at the University of Vienna in 1984.
  • Karl Johannes Bauer: Alois Musil. Truth seekers in the desert. Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-205-05128-9 .
  • Karl Corino: Meeting of three mountain peaks: Alfred, Alois and Robert Musil. Kitab, Klagenfurt / Vienna 2014, ISBN 978-3-902878-44-1 .
  • E. Bernleithner:  Musil Alois. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 7, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1978, ISBN 3-7001-0187-2 , p. 1 f. (Direct links on p. 1 , p. 2 ).
  • Erich Feigl : Musil of Arabia. Champion of the Islamic world. Amalthea-Verlag, Vienna / Munich 1985, ISBN 3-548-27560-5 .
  • Ernest Gellner : Lawrence of Moravia. Alois Musil, Monotheism and the Hapsburg Empire. In: The Times Literary Supplement , No. 4768, September 19, 1994, pp. 12ff.
  • Franz Loidl: New memories of the Arabian researcher Prelate Alois Musil. Vienna Catholic Academy, Working Group for Church History and Vienna Diocesan History: 3rd series, Volume 59, Vienna 1985.
  • Christoph Kiworr: Alois Musil, court chaplain and tribal sheikh: The priest as a politician in the Orient. In: Back then . The magazine for history and culture (8/2005), pp. 74–79.
  • Siegfried Kreuzer: Alois Musil's contribution to biblical studies. In: Siegfried Kreuzer: History, Language and Text. Studies on the Old Testament and its environment , BZAW 479, Berlin 2015, pp. 237–256.
  • Gabriele Mauthe: "Help me!" Alois Musil's letters to Josef Karabacek. In: Gabriele Mauthe, Christian host (ed.): The direction of the court library at the turn of the century. Josef Ritter von Karabacek Director of the Imperial and Royal Court Library in Vienna (1899–1917). Catalog for the exhibition in the Papyrus Museum. Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-01-000022-7 , p. 69 ff.
  • Josef Scharbert :  Alois Musil. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 6, Bautz, Herzberg 1993, ISBN 3-88309-044-1 , Sp. 383-393.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Georg Sauer: Alois Musil's travels to Arabia in the First World War. A contribution to his life picture on the occasion of his 100th birthday on June 30th, 1968. In: Archive Orientalni 37 (1969), pp. 243-263.
  • Stanislaus Segert: Alois Musil - Bible Scholar. In: Archív Orientální 63,4 (1995), ISSN  0044-8699 , pp. 393-400.
  • Rudolf Veselý:  Musil, Alois. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 636 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Udo Worschech: Alois Musil in the Ard el-Kerak. Contributions to the study of ancient Moabiti. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2007.
  • Udo Worschech: Alois Musil as a mediator between the Arab tribes in the First World War. In: Archive Orientalni 75 (2007), pp. 1–16.
  • Udo Worschech: Alois Musil. An orientalist and priest on a secret mission in Arabia 1914–1915. Hartmut Spenner Publishing House, Kamen 2009, ISBN 978-3-89991-086-5 .

Movie

  • Musil of Arabia . Documentation, Austria 1983, 60 min. Director: Erich Feigl.
  • Musil of Arabia - In the great game, game between archeology and politics . Documentation, Germany 2008, 26 min. Authors: Enzio Edschmid and Wolfgang Würker. Production: PAOLO-Film and Enzio Edschmid Filmproduktion.

Web links

Commons : Alois Musil  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert-Tarek Fischer : Austria in the Middle East. The great power politics of the Habsburg Monarchy in the Arab Orient 1633–1918 . Böhlau, Cologne and Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-205-77459-0 , p. 238.
personal data
SURNAME Musil, Alois
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech orientalist, Roman Catholic priest and theologian
DATE OF BIRTH June 30, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Rychtařov , Moravia
DATE OF DEATH April 12, 1944
Place of death Otryby , Bohemia