Reuben Levy

Reuben Levy (28 April 1891 – 6 September 1966) was Professor of Persian at the University of Cambridge. He wrote on Persian literature and Islamic history.

Life Levy was educated at the Friars School, Bangor, the University College of North Wales, Bangor and Jesus College, Oxford, studying Persian, Turkish and the Semitic languages. His First Persian teacher was Isa Sedigh.

During the First World War, he was a captain in General Staff Intelligence in Mesopotamia (1916 to 1918), and worked in the Iraq Political Service (1918 to 1920). He lectured in Persian at Oxford from 1920 to 1923 before living in the United States from 1923 to 1926. During the Second World War, he was a Squadron Leader in RAF Intelligence. which was regarded as a new approach to Muslim history. He also produced translations and critical editions of texts, including the 11th century Persian text Qabus nama (A Mirror for Princes, 1951), The Tales of Marzuban (1959) and The Shah-nama (1966).