Alois Musil (1868-1944) is a multifaceted personality: (1) as a Catholic priest, he finds himself in a tension between ecclesiastical responsibility and scientific curiosity, (2) as Sheikh Musa, he travels through the Orient and is - above all because of his cartographic work - involved in the European "big game" and (3) as a professor, he works in Vienna and Prague on a wide variety of topics in a wide variety of subjects, some of which are only just establishing themselves in university science, and thus becomes the founding father of ethnology in Vienna, ancient oriental studies in Prague and pioneer of oriental research in the area of the former "k.u.k. empire". The anthology focusses on different perspectives of this complex personality. It is divided into interdisciplinary sections: Biographical perspectives, contemporary historical perspectives, biblical studies perspectives, Islamic studies, as well as ethnological, geographical and archaeological perspectives. A comprehensive appendix compiles archive material and bibliography.
