Clemente Caraccioli
Clemente Caraccioli (* 1670 in Upper Egypt, † 1721 in Rome ) was an initially Muslim, then a Christian copyist .
Live and act
Muhammad Ibn 'Abd Allāh al-Sa'īdī al-'Adawī was probably born in the Assiut area and later worked as a copyist in Cairo . Christian pirates captured him in Alexandria around 1706 and brought him to Malta . There he continued his copywriting activity and taught Arabic to children . He waited in vain for relatives to buy his ransom. Through a nocturnal apparition of the ruling Pope Clement XI. he wants to have been asked to convert to Christianity .
Informed of this by letter, Clemens XI invited him. to Rome. There the convert was instructed by Archbishop Niccolò Caracciolo of Capua and baptized in 1708. The newly baptized took on the name Clemente Caraccioli in honor of the ruling Pope and his own Baptist. In the following years he was employed at the Vatican Library , probably supported by Giuseppe Simone Assemani , where his main task was to copy Arabic manuscripts. 24 manuscripts from his hand have survived in Rome and Beirut.
literature
- Samir Khalil Samir: Un imām égyptien copiste au Vatican: Clemente Caraccioli (1670-1721) . In: Parole de l'Orient. 21 (1996), pp. 111-154 ( online ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Caraccioli, Clemente |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Muhammad Ibn 'Abd Allaah al-Sa'īdī al-'Adawī |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Muslim and Christian copyist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1670 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Upper Egypt |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1721 |
| Place of death | Rome |