List of Assyriologists

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This is a partial list of Assyriologists. An Assyriologist is a person who specializes in the archaeological, historical, cultural and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq).

Contents

A

B

Taha Baqir translated the Epic of Gilgamesh from Akkadian into Arabic Th bqr.jpg
Taha Baqir translated the Epic of Gilgamesh from Akkadian into Arabic

C

D

E

F

Irving Finkel curates some ~130,000 cuneiform clay tablets housed in the British Museum Dr Irving Finkel in 2015 (cropped).jpg
Irving Finkel curates some ~130,000 cuneiform clay tablets housed in the British Museum

G

H

Edward Hincks, one of the decipherers of the cuneiform writing system Edward Hincks.jpg
Edward Hincks, one of the decipherers of the cuneiform writing system
Thomas Hyde, who attempted to correct from Oriental sources the errors of the Greek and Roman historians Thomas-Hyde.jpg
Thomas Hyde, who attempted to correct from Oriental sources the errors of the Greek and Roman historians

J

K

L

Austen Henry Layard, who uncovered the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh in 1851 Austen Henry Layard - Mitte 1860.jpg
Austen Henry Layard, who uncovered the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh in 1851
William Loftus, who discovered the Sumerian city of Uruk in 1849 William Loftus 001 (cropped portrait).jpg
William Loftus, who discovered the Sumerian city of Uruk in 1849

M

N

O

Julius Oppert wrote an Assyrian grammar in 1868 Julius N. Oppert (cropped).jpg
Julius Oppert wrote an Assyrian grammar in 1868

P

R

Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, called the "Father of Assyriology" Henry Creswicke Rawlinson.jpg
Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, called the "Father of Assyriology"

S

George Smith, the man who transliterated and read the "Babylonian Flood Story" of Tablet XI Mr. George Smith, the man who transliterated and read the so-called the Babylonian Flood Story of Tablet XI.jpg
George Smith, the man who transliterated and read the "Babylonian Flood Story" of Tablet XI

T

Henry Fox Talbot, a polymath, had a 20-year involvement in the field of Assyriology, and helped decipher the cuneiform inscriptions of Nineveh Claudet, Jean Francois Antoine - Fox Talbot (Detail) (Zeno Fotografie).jpg
Henry Fox Talbot, a polymath, had a 20-year involvement in the field of Assyriology, and helped decipher the cuneiform inscriptions of Nineveh

V

W

Y

Z

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilgamesh</span> Sumerian ruler and protagonist of the Epic of Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, who was posthumously deified. His rule probably would have taken place sometime in the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period, c. 2900 – 2350 BC, though he became a major figure in Sumerian legend during the Third Dynasty of Ur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akkadian language</span> Extinct Semitic language of Mesopotamia

Akkadian is an extinct East Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia from the third millennium BC until its gradual replacement in common use by Old Aramaic among Assyrians and Babylonians from the 8th century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sumer</span> Ancient Mesopotamian civilization

Sumer is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia, emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. Like nearby Elam, it is one of the cradles of civilization, along with Egypt, the Indus Valley, China, Caral-Supe, and Mesoamerica. Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Sumerian farmers grew an abundance of grain and other crops, a surplus which enabled them to form urban settlements. The world's earliest known texts come from the Sumerian cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr, and date to between c. 3350 – c. 2500 BC, following a period of proto-writing c. 4000 – c. 2500 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Iraq</span> Overview of the culture of Iraq

The Culture of Iraq or The Culture of Mesopotamia is one of the world's oldest cultural histories and is considered one of the most influential cultures in the world. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the Cradle of civilisation. Mesopotamian legacy went on to influence and shape the civilizations of the Old World in different ways such as inventing writing system, mathematics, law, astrology and many more. Iraq is home to diverse ethnic groups who have contributed to the wide spectrum of the Iraqi Culture. The country is known for its poets، architects، painters and sculptors who are among the best in the region, some of them being world-class. The country has one of the longest written traditions in the world including architecture, literature, music, dance, painting, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, stonemasonry and metalworking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuneiform</span> Writing system of the ancient Near East

Cuneiform proper is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform scripts in general are marked by and named for the characteristic wedge-shaped impressions which form their signs. Cuneiform is the earliest known writing system and was originally developed to write the Sumerian language of southern Mesopotamia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Hincks</span> Irish Assyriologist (1792–1866)

Edward Hincks was an Irish clergyman, best remembered as an Assyriologist and one of the decipherers of Mesopotamian cuneiform. He was one of the three men known as the "holy trinity of cuneiform", with Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson and Jules Oppert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assyriology</span> Archaeological sub-discipline

Assyriology, also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cuneiform writing. The field covers Pre Dynastic Mesopotamia, Sumer, the early Sumero-Akkadian city-states, the Akkadian Empire, Ebla, the Akkadian and Imperial Aramaic speaking states of Assyria, Babylonia and the Sealand Dynasty, the migrant foreign dynasties of southern Mesopotamia, including the Gutians, Amorites, Kassites, Arameans, Suteans and Chaldeans. Assyriology can be included to cover Neolithic pre Dynastic cultures dating to as far back as 8000 BC through to the Islamic Conquest of the 7th century AD. The topic is significantly wider than that implied by the root "Assyria" within the name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simo Parpola</span>

Simo Kaarlo Antero Parpola is a Finnish Assyriologist specializing in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Professor emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki.

Henry William Frederick Saggs was an English classicist and orientalist.

Andrew R. George is a British Assyriologist and academic best known for his edition and translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Andrew George is Professor of Babylonian, Department of the Languages and Cultures of Near and Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Jeremy Allen Black was a British Assyriologist and Sumerologist, founder of the online Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.

In philology, a commentary is a line-by-line or even word-by-word explication usually attached to an edition of a text in the same or an accompanying volume. It may draw on methodologies of close reading and literary criticism, but its primary purpose is to elucidate the language of the text and the specific culture that produced it, both of which may be foreign to the reader. Such a commentary usually takes the form of footnotes, endnotes, or separate text cross-referenced by line, paragraph or page.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilfred G. Lambert</span> British assyriologist (1926–2011)

Wilfred George Lambert FBA was a historian and archaeologist, a specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sargon of Akkad</span> Founder of Akkadian Empire

Sargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon the Great, was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire, known for his conquests of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC. He is sometimes identified as the first person in recorded history to rule over an empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taha Baqir</span>

Taha Baqir was an Iraqi Assyriologist, author, cuneiformist, linguist, historian, and former curator of the National Museum of Iraq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">François Thureau-Dangin</span>

François Thureau-Dangin was a French archaeologist, assyriologist and epigrapher. He played a major role in deciphering of the Sumerian and Akkadian languages.

Åke W. Sjöberg was a leading Assyriologist, specialized in Sumerian language and literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">An (cuneiform)</span>

The cuneiform an sign, is a common, multi-use sign, a syllabic for an, and an alphabetic sign used for a, or n; it is common in both the Epic of Gilgamesh over hundreds of years, and the 1350 BC Amarna letters, and other cuneiform texts. It is also used for the designation of a "god", and is sometimes represented as a superscript: d, or capitalized: D, for "dingir", English language, "god". The example photo at right shows, a list of 14 named gods, all with "an"; the first pair on the list AN-UTU, or DUTU, refers to the "sun-god", using Ud (cuneiform), as the sumerogram, namely UTU.

Stephanie Mary Dalley FSA is a British Assyriologist and scholar of the Ancient Near East. She has retired as a teaching Fellow from the Oriental Institute, Oxford. She is known for her publications of cuneiform texts and her investigation into the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and her proposal that it was situated in Nineveh, and constructed during Sennacherib's rule.

Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples or Proto-Semitic people were speakers of Semitic languages who lived throughout the ancient Near East and North Africa, including the Levant, Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Carthage from the 3rd millennium BC until the end of antiquity, with some, such as Assyrians, Mandeans, Arabs, Arameans, Samaritans and Jews having a continuum into the present day.

References

  1. Kramer 1963, p. 21.
  2. Kramer 1963, p. 24.
  3. Kramer 1963, pp. 22–24, 58, 167.
  4. Budge 1925, pp. 8, 53, 57, 74, 77, 90, 93, 295.
  5. Kramer 1963, pp. 14–20, 23.
  6. Budge 1925, pp. 19, 39.
  7. Kramer 1963, p. 10.
  8. Budge 1925, pp. 27, 29, 44, 65, 67–69, 72, 89, 107, 151, 266.
  9. Budge 1925, pp. 86, 87, 145, 197, 202.
  10. Budge 1925, pp. 58, 59, 88, 109, 205, 206, 211, 220, 269.
  11. Budge 1925, pp. 72, 79, 80, 85, 114, 130, 198, 207.
  12. Budge 1925, pp. 31, 44, 52, 73, 89, 261, 265, 476.
  13. Budge 1925, pp. 135, 197.
  14. Budge 1925, pp. 192, 215.
  15. Budge 1925, pp. 89, 106, 119, 152, 155, 162, 223, 224, 262, 267.

Sources