Giuseppe Simone Assemani (Classical Syriac : ܝܵܘܣܸܦ ܒܲܪ ܫܸܡܥܘܿܢ , (Arabic: يوسف بن سمعان السمعاني Yusuf ibn Siman as-Simani, English: Joseph Simon Assemani, Latin: Iosephus Simonius Assemanus; July 27, 1687 – January 13, 1768) was a librarian, Lebanese[1][2][3] Maronite orientalist, and Catholic bishop.

A talented graduate (at that time he had written three essays on the Syrian grammar and theology), he was spotted by Pope Clement XI, who kept him in Rome and ordered him to catalogue early Christian manuscripts that were brought in 1707 from Egypt by his brother Elias.

In 1710, Giuseppe worked as scribe of Oriental manuscripts (scriptor Orientalis), translator from Arabic and Syriac languages, and advisor to the Congregation for the review and reform of the liturgical books of the Eastern rites.

From 1715 to 1717 he was sent to Wadi El Natrun, Cairo, Damascus and Lebanon to search for valuable manuscripts, and returned with about 150,[6] which formed a collection in the Vatican Library.

[citation needed] In 1738, Assemani was back in Lebanon, and a year later was made First Librarian of the Vatican library.

[6] His main work was Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana in qua manuscriptos codices Syriacos, Arabicos, Persicos, Turcicos, Hebraicos, Samaritanos, Armenicos, Aethiopicos, Graecos, Aegyptiacos, Ibericos, et Malabaricos, jussu et munificentia Clementis XI Pontificis Maximi ex Oriente conquisitos, comparatos, et Bibliotecae Vaticanae addictos Recensuit, digessit, et genuina scripta a spuriis secrevit, addita singulorum auctorum vita, Joseph Simonius Assemanus, Syrus Maronita (Rome, 1719–1728), 9 vols folio.