Inner Asian Wisdom Traditions in the Pre-Mongol Period

Author: Robert Dankoff

Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 101, No. 1, Oriental Wisdom (Jan. - Mar., 1981), pp. 87-95

Published by: American Oriental Society

Robert Dankoff
Professor of Turkish and Islamic Studies, Emeritus

Robert Dankoff grew up in Rochester, N.Y. After receiving his BA from Columbia University (1964) he served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Turkey and then went to Harvard University where he received his PhD (1971). He taught at Brandeis University and the University of Arizona before coming to the University of Chicago (1979), where he is Professor of Turkish and Islamic Studies. His research has concentrated on linguistic and literary topics relating to Ottoman Turkish texts and also to the earliest Islamic Turkish texts in Central Asia. He has published several text editions and translations, including: Wisdom of Royal Glory (Kutadgu Bilig): A Turko-Islamic Mirror for Princes (1983) and The Intimate Life of an Ottoman Statesman: Melek Ahmed Pasha (1588-1662), as portrayed in Evliya Çelebi's Book of Travels (Seyahat-name) (1991).