Name Philippe Tarrazi | ||
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Born April 28, 1865 ( 1865-04-28 ) Beirut, Ottoman Empire | ||
Viscount Philippe de Tarrazi (Arabic: فيليب دي طرّازي / ALA-LC: Fīlīb dī Ṭarrāzī; 28 April 1865 – 7 August 1956), was a Lebanese polymath, philanthropist, founder of the National Library of Lebanon and a founding member of the Arab Academy of Damascus.
Life
Philippe was born in Beirut to a renowned Syriac Catholic merchant family which have recently emigrated from Aleppo. His father was given the honorary title viscount by Pope Leo XIII, which he later held. He studied at the patriarchal school and later the Jesuit college. Philippe showed interest in the Syriac, Arabic and French literatures, and authored at least 57 books on these, of which only 25 were published.
He helped victims of the First World War.
De Tarrazi was active in Lebanese Phoenicianist cultural circles and was also close to the Assyrian nationalist Naum Faiq.