TIELE, Cornelius Petrus. Leiden 16.12.1830 — Leiden 11.1.1902. Dutch Scholar of Comparative and Iranian Religion. Son of a printer-merchant, Cornelius Tiele (1794–1847) and Maria Johanna van Kampen (1809–1846), educated in Leiden, studied theology at Amsterdam in 1848-53. In 1853-56 Remonstrant minister in Moordrecht, in 1856-73 in Rotterdam. From 1873 Professor at Seminarie der Remonstranten in Leiden, from 1877 Professor of History of Religions (Geschiedenis de godsdiensten) at Leiden University, retired 1900. Hon. dr. 1872 Leiden, 1888 Bologna, 1899 Dublin, 1900 Edinburgh. Twice married, 1853 with Johanna Maria Henriëtta Backer (1831–1885) and 1890 with Antoinetta Sophia Ruychaver (1840–1907), no children.
Tiele was an important pioneer of comparative religion. He tried to find out great lines and a general philosophy of religion, sometimes discarding details. His book about Zoroastrianism was originally hasty and defective – and he himself was ashame of it – but the second edition became an important standard work.
Publications: De godsdienst van Zarathustra bij de oud-Perzische Volken. 20+306 p. 7 pl. Haarlem 1864, rev. 2nd ed. 1901, English transl. Bombay 1912.
– “Une nouvelle hypothèse sur l’antiquité de l’Avesta”, RHR 29, 1894, 68-81 (from Dutch publ. in VKNAW); “Die Kosmogonie des Avesta und Genesis 1”, Archiv f. Rel.wiss. 6, 1903, 244-246.
– Much about comparative religion, Near Eastern religions, Assyriology and Theology, e.g. Geschiedenis van den Godsdienst. 11+263 p. Amsterdam 1876, English by J. E. Carpenter. L. 1877, also in French, German, Italian, Danish, Swedish and Ukrainian; Elements of the Science of Religion. 1-2. Edinburgh 1897-99 (also in Dutch); Kompendium der Religionsgeschichte. Deutsch von T. Weber. 3. Aufl. umgearbeitet von N. Söderblom. 12+426 p. Breslau 1903; Geschiedenis van den Godsdienst in de Oudheid. Amsterdam 1902, German tr. by G. Gehrich, Geschichte der Religion im Altertum. 1-2. Gotha 1896-1903.
Sources: *Chantepie de La Saussaye, Jaarboek KNAW 1902; M. Jastrow, Jr., Open Court 14, 1900, 728-733 with photo; A. Réville, RHR 45, 1902, 70-75: G. Schlegel, TP 3, 1902; Wikipedia as Cornelis Tiele, with photo (see also German version); photo in Intern. Taschenbuch der Orientalisten 1910.
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