of the Value
of the Oriental Movement in German Literature. 79

TRANSCRIPTION.

For the transcription of Sanskrit words the system of the _Zeitschrift
der Deutschen Morgenlaendischen Gesellschaft_ has been followed; for that
of Persian words the system of the Grundriss der iranischen Philologie
has been adopted, with some variations however, e.g. [Arabic] is indicated by
'. To be consistent, such familiar names as Hafiz and Nizami appear as
Hafid and Nidami; Omar Khayyam as 'Umar Xayyam; and the word ghazal,
the German _Ghasele_, is written _gazal_.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

Information of Mediaeval Europe Concerning India and
Persia--Travellers--India and Persia in Mediaeval German
Poetry.

The knowledge which mediaeval Europe had of India and Persia was mostly
indirect, and, as might be expected, deficient both in correctness and
extent, resting, as it did, on the statements of classical and patristic
writers, on hearsay and on oral communication. In the accounts of the
classic writers, especially in those of Pliny, Strabo, Ptolemy, truth
and fiction were already strangely blended. Still more was this the case
with such compilers and encyclopaedists as Solinus, Cassiodorus and
Isidorus of Sevilla, on whom the mediaeval scholar depended largely for
information. All these writers, in so far as they speak of India, deal
almost entirely with its physical description, its cities and rivers,
its wealth of precious stones and metals, its spices and silks, and in
particular its marvels and wonders. Of its religion we hear but little,
and as to its literature we have only a few vague statements of
Arrian,[1] Aelian[2] and Dio Chrysostomus.[3] When the last mentioned
author tells us that the ancient Hindus sang in their own language the
poems of Homer, it shows that he had no idea of the fact that the great
Sanskrit epics, to which the passage undoubtedly alludes, were
independent poems. To him they appeared to be nothing more than versions
of Homer. Aelian makes a similar statement, but cautiously adds [Greek].
Philostratus represents the Hindu sage Iarchas as well acquainted with
the Homeric poems, but nowhere does his hero Apollonius of Tyana show the
slightest knowledge of Sanskrit literature.[4]

Nor do the classic authors give us any more information about the
literature of Persia, though the Iranian religion received some
attention. Aristotle and Theopompus w