Traces of the Kurds and Kurdistan in Italy and Rome
p. 63-79
Texte intégral
1Moving to Rome was a most important step for me, both from a personal point of view and for my scientific research. In this ancient city, the capital of the Roman Empire and later the center of Christianity, I was able to develop a sharper perception of the points of contact and links between Kurds, Kurdistan and Rome. The Eternal City is an open-air museum. When walking in the Roman Forum, admiring the Pantheon, visiting churches, consulting the archives one can perceive the uninterrupted flow in the relationship between Rome and even the most remote regions of the world. I would like to reiterate that each one of us finds here in Rome a link with their birthplace which may be a plaque, a map, a painting, a document. The libraries and archives, of both the Vatican and the Italian state, the different religious orders, as well as the many cultural institutions represent an essential source and a layering of knowledge of the history of humanity for over the past two thousand years1.
2When Joyce Blau was a guest of mine in the spring of 2009, I wasn’t able yet to show the city to visitors from this vantage point, but I hope that this article will stimulate her to come back so I can be her guide through the city in a different way. After 2010 I had the honor of involving H.E. Saywan Barzani, the Iraqi ambassador to Italy and a native of the Erbil region, in my jaunts among monuments and churches and I showed him evidence of the old ties between our two countries.
3I would like to emphasize that this article is not the result of systematic research. Nevertheless, I would like to present here little pieces I found here and there, representing only small fragments of those long existing ties.
4It is likely that only a few people know that the ancient name of the Erbil/Hewler (Adiabene) region is inscribed on the pediment of the Pantheon and the Septimius Severus Arch in the Roman Forum. Adiabene is the region on the left bank of the Tigris, with Arbela/Erbil as its capital, and it covers the area between the Little Zab and the Great Zab rivers. During the first quarter of the first century A.D., Adiabene became a semi-dependent vassal state under the Parthians. In 195 the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus crossed the Euphrates, invaded Parthia, occupied Adiabene and for this he received the imperial salutation « Parthicus Adiabenicus ». In 197 he led a new expedition, sailing with a fleet on the Euphrates, conquering Ctesiphon (198). The annexation of Mesopotamia was completed in 199 and two Roman legions were stationed in the new province.
5At that time, the Euphrates marked the border between the Roman and Parthian Empires. Rome firmly controlled Anatolia and Syria, and often tried to extend its hegemony to the whole of Assyria/Kurdistan/Mesopotamia/Iraq.
6Evidence of all these events can be found in the numerous inscriptions in honour of Septimius Severus. A special mention must be made of the Latin inscription, only partially legible, on the facade of the Pantheon, the best preserved ancient edifice in Rome:
Imp. Caes. L. Septimivs. Severvs. Pivs. Pertinax. Arabicvs. Adiabenicvs. Parthicvs. Maximvs. Pontif. Max. Trib. Potest. X. Imp. XI. Cos. III. P.P. Procos. Et.
7English translation of the text:
Emperor Caesar Lucius Septimius Severus Pius, Pertinax, Arabicus, Adiabenicus, Parthian, Pontifex Maximus, invested ten times with tribune power, eleven times Emperor, three times Consul, father of the homeland, Proconsul, &
8This very concise inscription needs further explanation. After the assassination of Pertinax (193), Lucius Septimius Severus (145-211 A.D.) was proclaimed Emperor, and adopted the name of Pertinax. In 195 in Nisibis, after his victories in Adiabene and in Arabia, he took the titles of Parthicus Adiabenicus and Parthicus Arabicus. In 197, he invaded Parthia again and occupied Seleucia, Babylon and Ctesiphon, taking the title of Parthicus Maximus in 198.
9A similar inscription is found on Septimius Severus’s arch of triumph (203), erected in the Roman Forum.2
10In earlier years, the Arbel/Erbil area had been the site of a very important historical event, i.e., the battle of Gaugamela (also known as the battle of Arbela), one of the most important battles of Antiquity, which took place in 331 B.C. between Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia, not far from Erbil (Hewler), in modern-day Southern Kurdistan.
11Just some eleven days before the victory of Alexander the Great over his rival Darius, in Assyria on the battlefield of Arbela, there was a total eclipse of the Moon as mentioned by Plutarch (The Life of Alexander, 31, 8) and Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia, II, 180). Four centuries later, Claudius Ptolomy (born in Egypt, 90-168 A.D.), the most important geographer and astronomer of the ancient world, applied the geographical coordinates for latitude and longitude basing himself on the Erbil eclipse to measure the longitude of the Earth (Geography, VI, 1, 4). He deduced the difference in longitude from the difference in local times in which the same lunar eclipsed had been observed. The only data he had referred to the lunar eclipse of December 20, 331 B.C. that had been recorded from Arbela in Assyria and from Carthage.
12Almost two millennia later, between 1644 and 1650, Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669) painted The Battle of Alexander versus Darius, also known as « The Battle of Arbela » (Musei Capitolini in Rome). It is an invented scene exalting Alexander the Great, who is crowned by an eagle. This painting was later imitated by numerous Flemish and French artists. The scene inspired many painters including Jacques Courtois (called Il Borgognone or Le Bourguignon, 1621-1676) who painted a Battle of Arbela and Charles Le Brun who produced the plan for the tapestry made in the city of Felletin (1680-1690), also named The Battle of Arbela.
13Rome is also the center of Christianity. The apostles Peter and Paul came to this city and were subjected to martyrdom. This city holds the relics of early Christians from Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia and Persia preserving their memory. The relic of Saint Anastasius the Persian (his original name was Mogundat) who was murdered in Kirkuk are kept here. He was a Persian monk martyred by strangulation and then beheaded (January 22, 628). He was buried at the monastery of St. Sergius in Karkh d-Bet Slokh (Kirkuk), the place of his martyrdom. When news of the sufferings and death of Saint Anastasius reached his monastic community in Jerusalem, where he had lived before returning to Persia, the brothers expressed the desire to acquire his mortal remains. The relics were taken from the monastery of St. Sergius and carried in triumph to Caesarea of Palestine, and then to Jerusalem where they arrived on November 2, 631. Probably in 645, his head was transported to Rome and since then has been venerated in a place known as ad Aquas Salvias, in the abbey of Tre Fontane, not far from the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, which became a place of pilgrimage. Since 1370 the church and the monastery are named after « Saints Vincent and Anastasius »3.
14Salâh al-Dîn Yûsuf ibn Ayyûb of the Kurdish tribe Rawadi known in the West as the Saladin (1138-1193), was born in Tikrit, Iraq. He was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, unified the Muslims, laid the foundation for a vast empire spanning from Egypt to Syria, Mesopotamia and part of the Arabian Peninsula. He defeated the Crusaders at Hittin in 1187 and took back Jerusalem again. He left deep marks in the Muslim world as a champion for Islam and in the West as an example of generosity and fairness.
15His fame as a fair man, his example of chivalric virtue is immortalized in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) placed only three Muslims in Limbo –Saladin, Avicenna and Averroes, the latter two great masters of science and philosophy. He assigned Saladin a place of honor among the great spirits, by himself, to the side, « E solo, in parte, vidi il Saladino », (And by himself, I noticed Saladin) in the Inferno, canto IV, line 129, marking how exceptional was the fact that a Muslim was accorded a position of such high regard.
16Dante mentions Saladin in the Convivio, IV, XI, 14 as well, placing him among other magnanimous and liberal minded noblemen such as Alfonso VIII (1155–1214) king of Castile, Raymond V (1134–1194) count of Toulouse, Guglielmo VII (1240-1292) marquis of Monferrato, Bertran de Born (1140-1215) lord of Hautefort.
17In the Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) praised Saladin’s tolerance. The two tales dedicated to him are placed at the beginning and the end of his masterpiece.
18Saladin’s fame has survived even today. For example, in Sicily Saladin’s deeds are still re-enacted in « Pupi siciliani » performances. In the old Palermo there is a small street dedicated to his name.
19The interest of Italians for the Ayyubid dynasty reached its peak in the meeting between Saint Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226) and Sultan Malik al-Kâmil Nasir al-Dîn Abû-l-Ma’alî Muhammad (1180-1238), nephew of the Saladin, during the V Crusade. During his brief stay in Damietta, Egypt (August 1219), the great Saint was received by the Ayyubid Sultan in a tent in a military camp near the Nile. The conversation between the two was to become a topos both in literature and in painting. The episode is mentioned, for example, in Dante’s Divine Comedy, « E poi che, per la sete del martiro/ Nella presenza del Soldan superba/ Predicò Cristo e li altri che il seguiro » (And after that, in thirst for martyrdom,/ Before the haughty presence of the Sultan,/ He preached Christ Jesus and his followers), Paradiso, canto XI, lines 100-102.

Preaching to the Sultan, Florence, Santa Croce, Cappella Bardi, ca. 1240
20A great number of paintings celebrate this episode as well, showing Saint Francis and the Sultan Malik al-Kâmil with a peaceful demeanor and portrayed with equal dignity. Among the depictions of the episode, one should mention the ones by Giotto (1267-1337) in churches in Florence, Assisi, Padua; the one by Taddeo Gaddi (1300-1366) in the Munich picture gallery, the one by Taddeo di Bartolo (1362-1422) in the Hannover picture gallery. In Rome in the Chiesa del Gesù there is a Franciscan cycle attributed to Flemish painter Giuseppe Penitz (Maarten Pepijn di Anversa, 1575-1642), that includes the meeting between the Saint and the Sultan.
21Mention must be made here of a painting depicting the battle of Çaldıran, on exhibition in Palermo. Joyce Blau appreciated the importance of my discovery, encouraged me to get in touch with the right people and showed her commitment to publishing the work by translating the text in French.
22A large painting of the Battle of Çaldıran is exhibited in Mirto Palace, a historical palace of noble families in Palermo (De Spuches, Filangeri, Lanza). The painting measures 3.59 m by 1.97 m and has a red wood frame. Below the war scene, an inscription in Italian describes the phases of the battle and the organisation of the Ottoman army. It bears no date nor the author’s signature, but it is possible to date it to 1580 circa.

The Battle of Çaldıran
23This painting provides rare evidence, maybe unique in the West, of an extremely important event in Turkish, Persian and Kurdish history, with repercussions that reached as far as Europe. The battle of Çaldıran between Sultan Selim I and Shâh Esmâ‘îl I took place near the Lake Van (2 Rajab 920 / 23rd August 1514) and the Kurds played an important role in support of the Ottomans. As far as the Çaldıran’s battle is concerned, only a small Ottoman miniature4 is known and is completely different from the painting exhibited in Palermo.
24The scene seems realistic and true to the reality represented. The style is mannerist and has good workmanship, which is relevant from an artistic point of view. The precise representation of facial features suggests that it was painted by a miniaturist. The style of the painting is Flemish. In that period, master artists and craftsmen who were coming from Northern Europe frequently travelled to Palermo to instruct the local people. But the painter could also have been a Sicilian artist because at that time there was an autochthonous popular school influenced by the Flemish. Moreover, the original source of the legend is unknown and is still probably in a manuscript. The archives of the noble families do not contain any reference to this painting.
25So far no valid reason has been found to explain why this painting was commissioned or what it is doing in Sicily. It is a paradox and a contradictory fact that in Italy, or indeed, in Christian Europe, a painter or his client, would want to exalt the Turks. At that time Sicily was dominated by Spain and this painting depicting the Çaldıran’s battle could have been topical, the echo of the Ottoman-Safavid struggles.
26The most important questions to be asked in this regard are: who in Palermo could possibly have had an interest in exalting the Sultan of Constantinople, and for what reasons?
27The ties with Kurds and Kurdistan are also present in the farthest northern regions of Italy. Turin is home to a valuable manuscript of the Sharafnâma (The Book of Honor or Sharaf’s Book), a work in the Persian language completed in 1596 by Sharaf al-Dîn Bitlîsî (1543-1604)5, Prince of Bitlis. It is the first history of the ruling families of the Kurdish emirates and it occupies a very important place in Kurdish historiography. The manuscript Or.12, dated 1083 Hijri/A.D. 1672, is preserved at the Biblioteca Reale di Torino, and is recorded as having belonged to King Carlo Alberto of Savoy. The initial folio of the manuscript is reproduced here.
28Turin was also the birthplace of Maurizio Garzoni (2 December 1734-1804), author of Grammatica e Vocabolario della lingua kurda (Grammar and Dictionary of the Kurdish Language, 1787). He took his vows in the Dominican monastery of Santa Sabina in Rome (26 November 1754). He was sent in apostolic mission to Mosul in 1762, where he was appointed Prefect of the Dominican mission from 1770 to 1781. In 1782 he contracted a very serious eye disease and was forced to return to Italy to avoid complete blindness. He returned to Mosul in 1786 and after two years went back to Italy.6
29Garzoni was the first to emphasize the originality of the Kurdish language7 and is considered the « father of Kurdology », « The pioneer Kurdish grammarian » and « précurseur dans l’étude des langues orientales ».8
30He placed the Pater Noster or Lord’s Prayer in Kurdish in an appendix to his book (1787: 283). That translation became very famous and has been widely published even if the name of the translator is often omitted. This translation constitutes an ideal connection between Kurdistan, Rome and Jerusalem. In fact the Church of the Pater Noster located on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem has a cloister containing plaques that bear the Lord’s Prayer in over 100 different languages, including the Kurdish version translated by Garzoni.
31The Lord’s Prayer in the Kurdish language in its Kurmanji version with Latin script, and its Italian translation, with very few variants compared with the Sunday prayer published by Maurizio Garzoni in Grammatica e vocabolario della lingua kurda was offered again by Lorenzo Hervàs in the small chapter on the « Kurda, o Kurdistana » (« Kurdish, or Kurdistani ») language.9 The text of the prayer is provided below, with an important note on Garzoni.
103. Kurda, o Kurdistana

Kurmanji text | Italian text | English translation |
Babe-ma | padre-nostro, | Our Father |
ki derúnit | che risiedi | who reside |
ser ásman | sopra cielo | above the Heavens |
Mokaddas bit | santo sia | holy be |
nave ta | nome tuo | Thy name |
B’déi a ma | dà a noi | give us |
baehscte ta | paradiso tuo | your Heaven |
Debít amráda ta | sia volontà tua | Thy will be done |
ser asman | sopra cielo, | above the Heavens |
u ser ard | e sopra terra | and above the earth |
Auro u | oggi, e | today and |
ehr ruz | ogni giorno | every day |
tera nan | bastante pane | enough bread |
b’déi a ma | dà a noi | give to us |
U âfúbeka | e perdona | and forgive |
ghuna ma | peccati nostri, | our sins, |
sibi am | come noi | like we |
âfube-kem | perdoniamo | forgive |
ehr ki | ogni, che | anyone who |
cekiria | ha-fatto | has caused |
a ma zerer | a noi danno, | damage to us |
iazahhmét | o fastidio | or annoyance |
U na avèsia ma | e non getta noi | do not throw us |
naf tegerib | dentro tentazio-ne | inside temptation |
Amma kalasbeka | ma libera | but free |
ma ez karabía, | noi da cose-cattive | us from evil things |
Father Maurizio Garzoni, Dominican, who gloriously founded the Kurdistan mission and lived there for 18 years, gifted me with this prayer and translation. The afore-praised father Garzoni told me that the Kurdish language is spoken in Kurdistan and many understand Arabic. The Kurdish language is a mixture of Arabic, Persian and partakes most of the latter. Christian Kurds speak Chaldean among themselves and Kurdish with the Islamic people. Christian women only know Chaldean. The Kurdish language which draws its true origin from Persian abounds with Arab words and phrases, which are a little altered, and still has quite a few Chaldean words. The difference between Persian and Kurdish is little more than the difference between Spanish and Portuguese. The aforementioned Father Garzoni has published in the present year 1787 a Grammar and Dictionary of the Kurdish Language, printed by the Collegio di Propaganda.
Father Garzoni, who has travelled throughout Mesopotamia, told me that Arabic is spoken in Mosul and in the villages in the vicinity (belonging to the Ottoman Gate). The Christians in the villages speak Chaldean.10
32The Lord’s Prayer was then offered in many Kurmanji versions written with Latin11 and Arabic script.12
Oratio Dominica Kurdice
Babe-ma, ki derúnit ser ásman, mokaddas bit nave ta; b’déi a ma baehscte ta. Debit amráda ta ser asman, u ser ard. Auro, u ehr ruz, tera nan b’dei a ma. U âfúbeka ghuna ma, sibi am âfubekem ehr ki cekiria a ma zerer ia zahhmét. U na avèsia ma naf tegerib ; amma kalasbeka ma ez karabía. Amìn. Ex Laurentio Hervas.13
33While Garzoni’s dictionary is known and largely quoted, the work of the Dominican Giuseppe Campanile Storia della regione del Kurdistan e delle sette di religione ivi esistenti (History of the Region of Kurdistan and of the religious sects settled there) published in Naples in 1818 is less known. This is the first book published in Italy and perhaps in the world that analyzes just Kurdistan. The aforementioned Sharafnâma manuscript was completed in 1596 but it was published for the first time in St. Petersburg in 1860-1862. In this last decade the lack of knowledge concerning the importance of Campanile’s efforts has been reduced by recent translations in French and Turkish.
34Giuseppe Campanile14 (19 December 1766-12 March 1835) was born in S. Antimo in the province of Naples and studied Arabic at the College of Propaganda Fide in Rome. In 1802 he was sent to the Mosul mission where he was Prefect from 1809 to 1815 and turned many Christians to Catholicism. He came back to Naples in 1815 but couldn’t return to his convent because many monasteries had been suppressed during the French occupation (1806-1815). He probably lived in S. Antimo from 1816 to 1819, where he wrote or edited the book that was then published in 1818. He taught Arabic in a Lyceum in Naples (in fact, the rumor that he taught Arabic at the University of Naples seems unfounded). In January 1820 he was among the first to be re-admitted to the Dominican monastery of S. Domenico Maggiore in Naples that had just re-opened. In this same monastery he obtained his doctorate in Theology (13 June 1820) and was appointed Rector of the Sante Missioni per la Nazione Napoletana (3 August 1830). He died in Naples in 1835.
35This book analyzed only the Kurdish region and the socio-political-economic and religious structure of the autochthonous nations. It is a seminal text for acquiring knowledge of Kurdistan as it contains information and precise data of great interest. Campanile is considered an historian and ethnologist, and ideally continues and expands the work of Garzoni which was limited to the linguistic aspect and structure. The two works complement each other and represent the starting point for subsequent publications.
36This text walks on the edge between memory, my deep friendship with Joyce Blau and my ongoing research on Kurds and Kurdistan. I would like to conclude with one of the last photos of Şerîf Paşa (1865-1951), the Kurdish representative to the Paris Peace Conference of 1918.15 At the Rome State archive I had discovered a file on Şerîf Paşa, thus I was able to shed some light on the last years of life of the Kurdish diplomat.
37Şerîf Paşa had tried to raise Benito Mussolini’s awareness about the Kurdish issue by promoting diplomatic initiatives which were later dropped. Already by the mid-1930s, the Kurdish diplomat, who was then living in Monte Carlo, was secretly trying to contact Mussolini through the Italian consulate in Nice. His « confidential » letter bears the date of 8 December 1936 and was read by the Duce on 17 July 1937. Unfortunately I did not find the letter, but only the notes taken by Mussolini’s personal secretary.
38Şerîf Paşa then sent two letters16 to the Duce in 1942. In the letter of 27 July 1942 Şerîf Paşa reveals that he had gone to Paris, upon invitation by the German government, and he attached a copy of the messages sent by the former Caliph Abdülmecid II to the Emperor of Japan (10 July 1942) and to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Amîn al-Husaynî (25 July 1942).
39One may find it disconcerting that Şerîf Paşa’s suggested putting at the head of Kurdistan « un chef pieux et expérimenté, comme l’ancien Kédive Abbas II ». His plan reflects how tied the former Ottoman ambassador to Sweden was to the Ottoman concept of the State, as well as his isolation in the Kurdish national movement at that time. The choice of the former Egyptian king ‘Abbâs II (1874-1944) was probably due to his kinship ties with the royal Egyptian family.
40Şerîf Paşa had married Princess Emine Halim, the aunt of King Faruq. His most cherished daughter, Melek Handan (Monticiano, Siena, 15 May 1922–Catanzaro, 7 June 1972) in 1948 married the Italian Count Carlo Pecorini Manzoni and followed him to live in Rome. In 1950 Şerîf Paşa went to live with them there, and then moved with them to Catanzaro, a provincial town in southern Italy where he died on 22 December 1951 and was buried there. According to some rumors at the time his body was taken to Egypt following the wishes of the Egyptian royal family.17 At the Catanzaro cemetery, however, a tombstone bears the name of the great Kurdish diplomat.
41Joyce actively sought to get the documents I had discovered in an archive published in Études Kurdes and she was sorry that she couldn’t put the picture of the Kurdish diplomat that had been given to me by Patrizia Pecorini Manzoni, one of Şerîf Paşa granddaughters. I think she will be happy to see it published on this occasion.

Şerîf Paşa at « Malfone » the villa of the Pecorini Manzoni Count in Catanzaro, summer 1951
Bibliographie
Giuseppe Campanile (1818), Storia della regione del Kurdistan e delle sette di religione ivi esistenti, Napoli, dalla stamperia de’ Fratelli Fernandes; French trans., Histoire du Kurdistan. Traduit de l’italien par le P.P. Thomas Bois, O.P., Paris, Fondation-Institut Kurde de Paris–L’Harmattan, 2004 ; Turkish trans., Kürdistan Tarihi, Istanbul, Avesta, 2009. URL: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_6Cgg6UQiZYAC.
Das Vater Unser (1847), Das Vater Unser mehr als 200 Sprachen und Mundarten mit Originaltypen, Wien, K.K. Hof-und-Staats-Druckerei. || « Asien – I Süd-Asien, Kurdisch –91 », map 5.
Angelo De Gubernatis (1876), Matériaux pour servir à l’histoire des études orientales en Italie, Firenze-Roma-Torino, Loescher. URL: https://archive.org/details/matriauxpourser00gubegoog.
Michele Febure C.M.A., (1681), Teatro della Turchia, in Milano, Nella Stampa delli Heredi di Antonio Malatesta. URL: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ECxn1o4_z2sC.
Ludvig Olsen Fossum (1919), A practical Kurdish grammar, Minneapolis, The inter-Synodical Ev. Lutheran Orient-Mission Society. URL: https://archive.org/details/APracticalKurdishGrammar.
Giuseppe Furlani (1932), « Maurizio Garzoni sugli Yezidi », Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni 8, p. 166-175.
Mirella Galletti (2000), « Deux lettres de Chérif Pacha à Benito Mussolini », Études Kurdes 2, p. 65-82. URL: http://www.institutkurde.org/publications/etude_kurdes/pdf/etud2.pdf.
Mirella Galletti (2001), « Curdi e Kurdistan in opere italiane dal XIII al XX secolo », in Mirella Galletti, Le relazioni tra Italia e Kurdistan, [Roma], Istituto per l’Oriente C.A. Nallino, p. 1-108 « Quaderni di Oriente Moderno », XX [LXXXI], n.s., 3. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23073420.
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Lorenzo Hervàs (1787), Saggio pratico delle lingue con prolegomeni, e una raccolta di orazioni Dominicali in più di trecento lingue [...], in Cesena, Per Gregorio Biasini all’Insegna di Pallade.
Lorenzo Hervàs (1787), Idea dell’Universo che contiene storia della vita dell’uomo, viaggio estatico al mondo planetario, e storia della terra, e delle lingue opera dell’Abate Don Lorenzo Hervàs. Socio della Reale Accademia delle Scienze, ed Antichità di Dublino, e dell’Etrusca di Cortona. Tomo XXI. Saggio Pratico delle Lingue, in Cesena, Per Gregorio Biasini all’Insegna di Pallade.
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Notes de bas de page
1 Professor Angelo Michele Piemontese, a native of Monte Sant’Angelo in Apulia and a long time Rome resident, taught me how to decode monuments. This great expert of Persian literature took me along on his walks pointing out the relationship between Persia and Rome as shown in the monuments.
2 Mirella Galletti (2011): Iraq. The heart of the World. Foreword by H.E. Dr Saywan Barzani Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the Italian Republic. Afterword by H.E. Habeeb Mohammed Hadi al-Sadr Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the Holy See. Revised and updated edition, Roma, Tipolitografia Lamberti Domenico, p. 40-41.
3 Mirella Galletti (2010): Le Kurdistan et ses chrétiens. Préface de Louis Sako Archevêque chaldéen de Kirkûk. Postface de Jean-Marie Mérigoux O.P., Paris, Les Éditions du Cerf, p. 68.
4 Selimnâme (1520) mss. Topkapı Library. I thank Professor Feridun Emecen, University of Istanbul, for this information.
5 Sharaf al-Dîn Bitlîsî (1860-1862), Scheref-nameh ou Histoire des Kourdes. Par Scheref, Prince de Bidlis, published for the first time in Persian with notes by V. Veliaminof-Zernof, St. Petersbourgh, 2 vols, and Sharaf al-Dîn Bitlîsî (1868-1873), Le Chèref-Nâmeh ou Fastes de la Nation Kourde. Par Chèref-ou’ddîne, Prince de Bidlîs, translation and notes by F.B. Chamoy, St. Petersbourgh, 3 vols.
6 Fr. Thomae Bonnet (1872-1873): Addenda Scriptores O.P., Biblioteca Istituto Storico dell’Angelicum in Roma, Ms. B.M. Goormachtigh, (1896): « Histoire de la mission dominicaine en Mésopotamie et en Kurdistan – depuis ses premières origines jusques à nos jours », Analecta Sacri Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum 4, p. 405-419.
7 In the 17th century Michele Febure reported of a dictionary and grammar in Kurdish language written by the Capucins who live in those countries, of which there is no trace left (cf. Michele Febure C.M.A. (1681): Teatro della Turchia, in Milano, Nella Stampa delli Heredi di Antonio Malatesta, p. 342. URL: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ECxn1o4_z2sC).
8 Basil Nikitine (1934): « Shamdînân » in, EI1, IV, p. 315; Ludvig Olsen Fossum (1919): A practical Kurdish grammar, Minneapolis, The inter-Synodical Ev. Lutheran Orient-Mission Society, p. 272 ; Angelo De Gubernatis (1876): Matériaux pour servir à l’histoire des études orientales en Italie, Firenze-Roma-Torino, Loescher, p. 305.
9 Lorenzo Hervàs (1787): Saggio pratico delle lingue con prolegomeni, e una raccolta di orazioni Dominicali in più di trecento lingue [...], in Cesena, Per Gregorio Biasini all’Insegna di Pallade, p. 81 ; Ibid. (1787): Idea dell’Universo che contiene storia della vita dell’uomo, viaggio estatico al mondo planetario, e storia della terra, e delle lingue opera dell’Abate Don Lorenzo Hervàs. Socio della Reale Accademia delle Scienze, ed Antichità di Dublino, e dell’Etrusca di Cortona. Tomo XXI. Saggio Pratico delle Lingue, in Cesena, Per Gregorio Biasini all’Insegna di Pallade, p. 156-157. The two works have a different title even though the text is the same.
10 Lorenzo Hervàs Idea dell’Universo, op. cit.
11 This text of the prayer is offered with slight changes in the Viennese collection Das Vater Unser mehr als 200 Sprachen und Mundarten mit Originaltypen (1847): Wien, K.K. Hof-und-Staats-Druckerei. || « Asien – I Süd-Asien, Kurdisch –91 », map 5.
12 Oratio Dominica in CCL. linguas versa et CLXXX charecterum formis vel nostratibus vel peregrinis expressa curante Petro Marietti (1870): Romae, Equite typographo pontificio socio administro typographei S. Consilii de Propaganda Fide. || ‘Pars secunda. Linguas aryanas seu iapheticas comprehendens. XXXII. Oratio Dominica Curdice’, p. 56
13 Oratio Dominica, Oratio Dominica in CLV linguas versa et exoticis characteribus plerunque expressa (1806): Parmae, Typis Bodonianis, p. LXVIII.
14 Fr. Thomae Bonnet, op. cit. Nello Ronga was able to clarify any doubts about the date of birth of Giuseppe Campanile (which some authors gave as 1762) by engaging in an excellent research effort in the Naples archives and in those of towns in the vicinity (cf Ronga (2007): « Padre Giuseppe Campanile dell’Ordine dei Predicatori : era di S. Antimo il primo studioso del Kurdistan », Rassegna storica dei comuni, studi e ricerche storiche locali 33, n. 144-145, settembre-dicembre p. 85-94. URL : http://www.iststudiatell.org/rsc/annate_11/padre_giuseppe_campanile.pdf).
15 Şerîf Paşa (1865-1951), was a member of the Baban family, a general of the Ottoman army and in 1898 was appointed ambassador of the Ottoman Empire to Stockholm. During the Paris peace negotiations he attempted to solve the Kurdish-Armenian conflict with an agreement with the Armenian delegation (20 November 1919).
The death certificate issued by the Catanzaro municipality (Registro degli atti di morte del 1951, vol. I, parte I, No. 330) reports that Cherif Handan Pacha, born in Scutari (Turkey) eighty-seven years of age, residing in Cairo (Egypt), widower of Ermine’ Halim, diplomat by profession, died in Catanzaro on 22 December 1951.
16 Archivio Centrale dello Stato (1922-43): Segreteria particolare del Duce, n. 541.245, dossier « Cherif Pacha ». The complete documents were published by Galletti (2000): « Deux lettres de Chérif Pacha à Benito Mussolini », Études Kurdes 2, p. 65-82.
17 Conversations held between Mirella Galletti and Patrizia Pecorini Manzoni, daughter of Melek Handan and Count Carlo Pecorini Manzoni.
Auteur
†
Université de Bologne
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Forms and institutions of justice
Legal actions in Ottoman contexts
Yavuz Aykan et Işık Tamdoğan (éd.)
2018