CHRISTENSEN, Arthur

CHRISTENSEN, Arthur Emanuel. Copenhagen 9.1.1875 — Copenhagen 31.3.1945. Danish Iranian Scholar. Professor in Copenhagen. Son of post official Vilhelm Chr. and Dorothea Kjerstine Marcussen. Matriculated in Copenhagen 1893. Studied languages, mainly French, at Copenhagen, mag. 1900. He had early become interested in the East and studied also Oriental languages: Arabic and Persian under Mehren, Sanskrit under Fausbøll, Avestan under E. Lehman, Turkish and Arabic under Østrup. After further studies under Andreas in 1902 at Berlin he presented his dissertation on the Rubā’iyyāt of ‘Umar Khayyâm at Copenhagen in 1903. Nominated Docent at his university he pursued his studies in Paris, London, and Göttingen (Andreas). Worked as teacher and journalist. In 1919-1945 Professor i iransk filologi at Copenhagen (succeeded by his student Barr), died on the very last day of his tenure. From 1818 member of Det Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Visited Iran in 1914, 1929, and 1934. Married 1916 Maren Kirstine Grymer (1876–1969).

Christensen was a many-sided Iranian scholar, both ancient and modern. During his travels he collected materials for several important studies on Iranian dialects, also edited materials collected by Andreas and Meyer. His ability to see the essential enhances their value, but as a classical philologist he did not understand modern phonetics. He was the leading scholar of Sassanian history and of historical legends. The L’Iran sous les Sassanides was his magnum opus. His interests further included the Avesta and Zoroastrian religion, and Iranian folklore. Among his students was K. Barr.

Publications: Diss. Omar Khajjâms Rubâijât. En litterœrhistorisk Undersøgelse. 152 p. Copenhagen 1903, rev. French version. Heidelberg 1904.

L’Empire des Sasanides, le peuple, l’état, la cour. 120 p. D. Vid. Selsk. Skrifter 7:1/1. Copenhagen 1907, 2nd ed. 1927; Romanen om Bahrâm Tchôbîn. Studier fra Sprog- og Oldtidsforskning 75. Copenhagen 1907; Om Lægekunst hos Perserne. 103 p. Medicinsk-historiske Smaaskrifter 18. Copenhagen 1917; Smeden Kāwäh og det gamle persiske Rigsbanner. 26 p. Vid. Selsk. Hist.-filol. Medd. 2:7. Copenhagen 1919; La regne du Roi Kawādh I et le communisme Mazdakite. 127 p. Vid. Selsk., Hist.-filol. meddel. 9:6. Copenhagen 1925.

Recherches sur l’histoire legendaire des Iraniens. I. Les types du Premier Homme et du Premier Roi dans l’histoire legendaire des Iraniens. 1. 219 p. Archives d’études orientales 14:2 (17), Stockholm 1918 & 2. 196 p. Leiden 1934.

Le dialect de Sämnan. Essai d’une grammaire sämnānīe avec un vocabulaire et quelques textes, suivie d’une notice sur les patois de Sängsar et de Lāsgird. 76 p. Vid. Selskabs Skrifter 7th ser. Historisk og filosofisk afdeling 2/4. Copenhagen; 1915; Contributions à la dialectologie iranienne. 1. Dialecte guiläkī de Recht, dialectes de Färizänd, de Yaran et de Natanz, avec un supplément contenant quelques texts dans le persan vulgaire de Téhéran. 300 p. Vid. Selsk. Hist.-filol. meddel. 17:2, 21:3. Copenhagen 1930; Contributions... 2. Dialectes de la région de Sémnān, Sourkhéī, Lāsguerdī, Sängesärī et Chämerzādī. 198 p. Ibid. 21:3. Copenhagen 1935.

Hinsides det Kaspiske Hav. 247 p. Copenhagen 1918; Det gamle og det nye Persien. 198 p. Copenhagen 1930; Heltedigtning og Fortællingslitterator hos Iranerne i Oldtiden. 89 p. Copenhagen 1935; Kulturskitser fra Iran. 219 p. Copenhagen 1937

Contes persans en langue populaire. 130 p. Vid. Selsk., Hist.-filol. meddel. 1:3. Copenhagen 1918; Xavāṣṣ-i-āyāt. Notices et extraits d’un manuscrit persan traitant la magie des versets du Coran. 68 p. Ibid. 3:4. Copenhagen 1920; Textes ossètes. 143 p. Ibid. 6:1. Copenhagen 1921 (material collected from prisoners of war); Les dialectes d’Awromān et de Pāwä. Textes recueillies par Åge Meyer Benedictsen. 128 p. Ibid. 6:2. Copenhagen 1921 (Kurdish).

Translated: Omar Khajjam. Epigram-Digte. 80 p. Copenhagen 1920, 2nd ed. 1943; Avesta, Zarathustriernes hellige Skrifter. 128 p. Copenhagen 1923 (selection); Firdausis Kongebog. Udvalgte Sagn af det Persiske Nationalepos. 400 p. Copenhagen 1931.

– “Quelques notices sur les plus anciennes périodes du Zoroastrisme”, AO 4, 1926, 81-115; “La légende du sage Buzurǰmihr”, AO 8, 1930, 81-128.

Critical Studies in the Rubá‘iyát of Umar-i-Khayyám. A revised text with E. translation. 180 p. Vid. Selsk., Hist.-filol. meddel. 14:1. Copenhagen 1927 (121 quatrains out of 800 deemed genuine).

Études sur le Zoroastrisme de la Perse Antique. 59 p. Vid. Selsk., Hist.-filol. meddel. 15:2. Copenhagen 1928; Les Kayanides. 166 p. Ibid 19:2. Copenhagen 1931; Essai sur la démonologie iranienne. 97 p. Ibid. 27:1. Copenhagen 1941; Le premier chapitre du Vendidad et l’histoire des tribus iraniennes. 92 p. Ibid. 29:4. Copenhagen 1943.

– “Die Iranier”, in Handbuch der Altertumswiss. 3. Abt., I Teil, 3. Band. München 1933, 201-310; chapter “Sassanides” in Cambridge Ancient History 12. 1939.

L’Iran sous les Sassanides. 560 p. Copenhagen & P. 1936, 2nd rev. ed. 1944, Persian transl. 1938.

Les gestes des rois dans les traditions de l’Iran antique. 141 p. P. 1936; La vie musicale dans la civilisation des Sassanides. 45 p. P. 1936.

Edited: Codices Avestici et Pahlavici Bibliothecae Universitatis Hafniensis. 1-12. Copenhagen 1931-44.

Études sur le persan contemporain. Ed. by K. Barr. 271+116 p. Copenhagen 1970.

A great number of popular books, fiction, and current affairs, e.g.: Politik og Massemoral. 180 p. Copenhagen 1911, German 1912, English 1915; Engelsk og tysk Folkeand, Kultur of Verdenskrieg. 103 p. Copenhagen 1915; Folkestyrets Fremtid. 121 p. Copenhagen 1927; Synspunkter og Synsvinkler; Aforismer. 76 p. Copenhagen 1929; Drømme: Iagktagelser og Undersøgelser. 232 p. Copenhagen 1941 (aphorisms). Fiction: Cedertræskisten. Noveller og Fortällinger fra Orientens Middelalter. 95 p. Copenhagen 1940; novel Angstens rappe Saaler. Copenhagen 1943; folklore translations, etc.

Sources: J.P. Asmussen, Encyclop. Iranica 5, 1991, 521-532; J.P. Asmussen & F. de Fontenay, Dansk Biogr. Lex. 3rd ed. 3, 1979, 233-236; J.P. Asmussen, Encyclopædia Iranica 5, 1991, 521-523; *K. Barr, Festskrift udgivet af Københavns Universitet i anledning af universitetets Aarsfest. Copenh. 1945, 129-141 and *Oversigt over [Vidensk.] Selskabets Virksomhed Juni 1945-Maj 1946, 1946, 65-102; C. Chaqueri, D.O.L.F. 216f.; *L.P. Elwell-Sutton, British Soc. for Middle Eastern Stud. Bulletin 10, 1983, 59-68; Wikipedia (mote in Danish & Swedish versions); photo in Fs. 1945 (also in TITUS Galeria).

*Mette Hedemund Søltoft, Arthur Christensen, iransk filologi og jagten på det indoeuropæiske. En videnskabshistorisk rejse. DSCA Monograph 1. Copenhagen 2007 (on his travels).

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