Hyde (Hydius), Thomas°

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HYDE (Hydius), THOMAS°

HYDE (Hydius), THOMAS ° (1636–1703), English Orientalist. While still a student at Cambridge, Hyde collaborated in the preparation of B. *Walton's Polygot Bible (London, 1657): he edited the Latin, transcribed into Arabic script the Persian translation (in Hebrew characters) of the Pentateuch (Constantinople, 1546), and styled and corrected the Arabic, Persian, and Syriac versions. In 1658 Hyde became a reader in Hebrew at Queen's College, Oxford, and as librarian of the Bodleian Library from 1665, compiled its catalog (Oxford, 1674). From 1691 he was professor of Arabic and from 1697, of Hebrew. His major publication, a work on ancient Persian religion, Historiae Religionis Veterum Persarum (ibid., 1700), became recognized as a basic study in this field. Hyde's other publications include Latin translations of Abraham Farissol's cosmography, Iggeret Oreḥot Olam (Itinera Mundi, 1691), and of Hebrew material concerning the history of chess (in his De ludis Orientalibus, Oxford, 1694).

bibliography:

Steinschneider, Cat Bod, 1050 no. 5260; idem, in: zhb, 3 (1899), 50 no. 236; Abrahams, in: jhset, 8 (1918), 104; Levy, in: jhsem. 4 (1942), 70f.; A. Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, ed. by P. Bliss, 4 (1820), 522 (full bibliography of Hyde's works). add. bibliography: odnb online; P.J. Marshall, Thomas Hyde: Stupor Mundi (1983).

[Yehudah Pinhas Leo Kohn]