11 Facts About Antiochus Kantemir

Antiochus or Antioch Kantemir or Cantemir was a Moldavian who served as a man of letters, diplomat, and prince during the Russian Enlightenment.

Antiochus Kantemir was the son of Demetrius by his wife, the Princess Kassandra Cantacuzene, who claimed descent from the Byzantine dynasty of the same name.

Antiochus Kantemir spent much of his youth in Constantinople as a hostage to the Turks.

Antiochus Kantemir served as the Russian ambassador at London from 1731 to 1736, when he was relocated to Paris to serve as Russia's minister plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of France.

Antiochus Kantemir died a bachelor in Paris amid litigation concerning his illegitimate children.

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Antiochus Kantemir produced a tract on old Russian versification in 1744 and numerous odes and fables.

Antiochus Kantemir edited his father's History of the Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire in England and wrote a biography and bibliography of his father which later accompanied its 1756 edition.

Antiochus Kantemir's 1742 Letters on Nature and Man was a philosophical work.

Antiochus Kantemir is best remembered for his satires in the manner of Juvenal, including To My Mind: On Those Who Blame Education and On the Envy and Pride of Evil-Minded Courtiers, which were among the first such works in the Russian language.

Antiochus Kantemir translated Horace and Anacreon into Russian, as well as Algarotti's Dialogues on Light and Colors.

Antiochus Kantemir translated De Fontenelle's Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, in 1730.