In Memoriam

Abstract

The Italian/Australian Mongolist and Sinologist Igor de Rachewiltz descended from a Lombardic noble family. His fascination with the Japanese script started when he was a little boy, and consequently he studied East Asian languages and culture. Among his teachers were Pasquale M. d’Elia and Giovanni Vacca in Rome. Enticed by the Mongolian script the student decided to focus on Mongol history and culture. He received a Ph.D. grant from the Australian National University and took his Ph.D. there with an intensive study on Yelü Chucai, the eminent statesman of the Mongol period of China. He made Canberra his home for his entire life and published a series of important works, such as a whole set of volumes of biographical materials for the Yuan dynasty and a careful, fully annotated three volume translation of the principal source of early Mongol history, the Secret History of the Mongols. Shortly before his passing he had the full translation (though without most of the copious notes and references) published in an open access version on the Internet. Among his last works were an Introduction to Altaic Philology (with V. Rybatzki) and an English translation of the Geser epic (not yet published). He was a splendid scholar and it is to be regretted that he was not able to establish a “school” to carry on his scholarly tradition in Australia.