Ármin Vámbéry (born Hermann Wamberger; 19 March 183215 September 1913), also known as Arminius Vámbéry, was a Hungarian Turkologist and traveller. Early life Vámbéry was born in Svätý Jur Austrian Empire (now Slovakia), into a poor Jewish family. According to Ernst Pawel, a biographer of Theodor Herzl, as well as Tom Reiss, a biographer of Kurban Said, Vámbéry's original last name was Wamberger rather than Bamberger. He was raised Jewish, but later became an atheist. Vámbéry was 1 year old when his father died and the family moved to Dunajská Streda (now Slovakia). In his autobiography, Vámbéry says that his parents were so poor and had so many children that they were forced to stop supporting each child at a young age. He was set "adrift" at the age of 12. Vámbéry says that the constant hunger and scanty clothing of his childhood hardened his young body, which served him well in his later travels. He walked with a crutch under his left arm because of congenital disorder. He attended the local school until the age of 12 and showed a remarkable aptitude for learning languages. He was forced to leave school, to support himself with work. He worked briefly as a dressmaker's assistant, but after becoming tutor to the son of the village innkeeper, he was enabled by his friends to enter the "Untergymnasium" of Szentgyörgy. By the age of sixteen, he had a good knowledge of Hungarian, Hebrew, Latin, French, and German. He was also rapidly acquiring English, the Scandinavian languages, Russian, Serbian, and naturally other Slavic languages. In 1846, he went to Bratislava, where he remained three years. Later he studied in Vienna, Kecskemét, and Budapest. Diplomatic work Theodor Herzl enlisted Vámbéry to consult on diplomatic work in the Ottoman Empire (despite Herzl's reputation for working alone). Vámbéry was a professor of Oriental languages at the University of Budapest. Herzl said of Vámbéry: [He] doesn't know whether he is more Turk than Englishman, writes books in German, speaks twelve languages with equal mastery and has professed five religions, in two of which he has served as a priest...He told me 1001 tales of the Orient, of his intimacy with the sultan, etc. He immediately trusted me completely and told me, under oath of secrecy, that he was a secret agent of Turkey and of England. Travels Vámbéry was especially attracted by the literature and culture of the