RICH, CLAUDIUS JAMES (1787-1821)

This article appears in Volume V23, Page 292 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: RHY-RON

RICH, CLAUDIUS JAMES (1787-1821) , English traveller and scholar, was born near Dijon on the 28th of March 1787. His youth was spent at Bristol. He early developed a

gift

GIFT (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. die Gift, gift, das Gift, poison, formed from the Teut. stem gab-, to give, cf. Dutch geven, Ger. geben; in O. Eng. the word appears with initial y, the guttural of later English is due to Scandinavian influence)

for languages, becoming familiar not only with Latin arid Greek but also with Hebrew, Syriac, Persian, Turkish and other Eastern tongues. In 1804 Rich went to

Constantinople

CONSTANTINOPLE
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF

, where, and at Smyrna, he stayed some time, perfecting himself in Turkish. Proceeding, to Alexandria as assistant to the British

consul

-general there, he devoted himself to Arabic and its various dialects, and made himself master of Eastern manners and usages. ,On leaving Egypt he travelled by land to the Persian Gulf, disguised as a Mameluke, visiting Damascus, and entering the

great

GREAT

mosque undetected. At Bombay, which he reached in September 18o7, he was the guest of Sir James Mackintosh, whose eldest daughter he married in January 18o8, proceeding soon after to Bagdad as

resident

RESIDENT

. There he began his investigations into the geography, history and antiquities of the

district

DISTRICT

. He explored the remains of Babylon, and projected ,a geographical and statistical account of the pashalic of Bagdad. The results of his

work

WORK

at Babylon appeared first in. the Vienna serial Mines de l'orient, and in 1815 in England, under the title Narrative of a Journey to the Site o f Babylon in a8x.r. In 181314 Rich spent some dine in Europe, and on his return to Bagdad devoted himself to the study of the geography of Asia

Minor

, and collected much information in Syrian and Chaldaean convents concerning the Yezidis. During this period he made a second excursion to Bahylon, and in 182o undertook an extensive tour to Kurdistanfrom Bagdad north to Sulimania, eastward to Sinna, then- west to Nineveh, and thence down the

Tigris

TIGRIS (Old Persian Tigrd, Diklat of the cuneiform inscriptions, Hiddekel of the Old Testament, Diglath of the Targum, Digla of the Arabs)

to Bagdad. The narrative of this journey, which contained the first accurate knowledge (from scientific observation) regarding the topography and geography of the region, was published by his widow under the title, Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan and on the site of Ancient Nineveh, &c. (London, 1836). In 1821 Rich went to Basora, whence he made an excursion to Shiraz, visiting the ruins of

Persepolis

PERSEPOLIS

and the other remains in the neighbourhood. At Shiraz he died of cholera on the 5th of October 1821. His fine collections of manuscripts and coins was purchased by the British Museum.

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