Home > Dimitrie Cantemir

Born in Silisteni as a scion of the Moldavian boyar family of Cantemir, he was educated in languages, literature and history at the Princely Court of Iasi. Between 1688 and 1710 he lived in Constantinople (Istanbul), then returned and became prince of Moldavia in 1710.

He had ruled only one year ( 1710 - 1711) when he joined Peter the Great in his campaign against the Turks and placed Moldavia under Russian suzerainty. Beaten by the Turks, Cantemir couldn't return to Moldavia, so he emigrated to Russia, where he and his family finally settled. He died at KharkovKharkov ( rus: ) or Kharkiv ( ukr: і) is the second largest city in Ukraine, a center of Kharkivs'ka oblast'. It is situated in the northeast of the country and has a population of two million. It is one of the main industrial, cultural and educatio in 1723.

Cantemir was known as one of the greatest linguists of his time, speaking and writing eleven languages, and being well versed in Oriental scholarship. He was a voluminous and original writer of great sagacity and deep penetration, and his writings range over many subjects. The best known is his History of the Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire. He also wrote a history of oriental music, which is no longer extant; the first critical history of Moldo-Walachia ; the first geographical, ethnographical and economic description of Moldavia, Descriptio Moldaviae, under the name of Historia Hieroglyphica, to which he furnished a key, and in which the principal persons are represented by animals; also the history of the two ruling houses of Brancoveanu and Cantacuzino; and a philosophical treatise, the first book ever written in RomanianRomanian is: Of or pertaining to Romania The Romanian people The Romanian language. language - written also in GreekThe Greek language ( /Elini'k{/) is an Indo-European language which has existed from around the 14th century BC in the Cretan inscriptions called Linear B. Mycenaean Greek of this period is distinguished from later Classical or Ancient Greek of the 8th ce, translated in ArabicArabic is a Semitic language, fairly closely related to, for instance, the Hebrew language and the Aramaic language, spoken throughout the Arab world and widely known outside it. It has been a literary language for over 1500 years, and is the liturgical l, under the title Divanul sau Gâlceava Inţeleptului cu lumea sau Giudeţul sufletului cu trupul; in FrenchFrench le francais la langue francaise is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered only by Spanish and Portuguese. French is the 11th most spoken language in the world, spoken by about 77 million people (called Francophones) as a mother to: Le divan ou la dispute du sage avec le monde ou le jugement de l'âme avec le corps; in EnglishThe English language is a West Germanic language, originating from England. It is the third most common "first" language (native speakers), with around 402 million people in 2002. English has lingua franca status in many parts of the world, due to the mil The Divan or The Wise Man's Parley with the World or The Judgement of the Soul with the Body. The publishing place and date are: Iasi 1698.