Simo Parpola | |
|---|---|
 Simo Parpola in 1993 | |
| Born | Simo Kaarlo Antero Parpola 4 July 1943 |
| Nationality | Finnish |
| Occupation | Assyriologist |
| Title | Extraordinary Professor of Assyriology |
| Relatives | Asko Parpola (brother) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Assyriology |
| Institutions | University of Helsinki (retired) |
Simo Kaarlo Antero Parpola (born 4 July 1943) is a Finnish Assyriologist specializing in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Professor emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki (retired fall 2009).
Simo Parpola studied Assyriology, Classics and Semitic Philology at the University of Helsinki, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the British Museum in 1961–1968. He completed his PhD in Helsinki and began his academic career as wissenschaftlicher Assistant of Karlheinz Deller at the Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orients [2] of the University of Heidelberg in 1969. Between 1973 and 1976 he was Docent of Assyriology and Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki, and from 1977 to 1979 associate professor of Assyriology with tenure at the Oriental Institute [3] of the University of Chicago. He was appointed extraordinary professor of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki in 1978 and has directed the University's Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project [4] since 1986. He taught at the University of Padua as visiting professor in spring 1995, and worked as research fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University [5] in 1999. He contributed to the compilation of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary from 1982 until its completion in 2010 and partook in the Ziyaret Tepe archaeological expedition as Senior Epigraphist in 2001–2006. Among Simo Parpola's students of Assyriology were Amar Annus, Sanna Aro, Grant Frame, Mikko Luukko, Raija Mattila, and Saana Svärd. [6] [7]
The main focus of Parpola's research has been on the study of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in all its aspects (language, literature, history, geography, society, religion, royal ideology and sciences), but he has also contributed to the study of the Indus script, Sumerian language, Jewish mysticism and Assyrian identity in post-empire times, among others. In 1986 he initiated a long-term international research project to edit Neo-Assyrian sources (The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project), [8] which has resulted in a 19-volume series of standard text editions (State Archives of Assyria) [9] and in a digital corpus of texts written in the Neo-Assyrian language. The published series contains cuneiform texts, transcriptions and translations of first hand records written by civil servants, professionals and administrators and are considered to be an important source accessible to scholars of many disciplines. In 1998, Parpola started the Melammu Project, an interdisciplinary project that investigates the continuity, transformation and diffusion of Mesopotamian culture in the classical world and thereafter.
Parpola, in a study published in 2004 entitled: Mount Nisir and the Foundations of the Assyrian Church, argues that the Christian church was "..built on foundations laid by Assyria..", and that "..the continuity and survival of Assyrian ideas in Christianity must be taken seriously.". He comes to this conclusion by assessing what he considers to be parallels in both Christianity and the ancient Mesopotamian religion, and states that Assyriologists generally avoid and reject the belief structure and central components in regards to ancient Mesopotamia.
Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 1995. [14]
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The Melammu Project investigates the continuity, transformation and diffusion of Mesopotamian and Ancient Near Eastern culture from the third millennium BCE through the ancient world until Islamic times. It does so by organizing conferences and by providing resources relevant to the project on its website.
Cuneiform TI or TÌL has the main meaning of "life" when used ideographically. The written sign developed from the drawing of an arrow, since the words meaning "arrow" and "life" were pronounced similarly in the Sumerian language.
Eber-Nari or Ebir-Nari (Akkadian), also Abar-Nahara (Aramaic) or Aber Nahra (Syriac), was a region of the ancient Near East. Translated as "Beyond the River" or "Across the River" in both the Akkadian and Aramaic languages, it referred to the land on the opposite side of the Euphrates from the perspective of Mesopotamia and Persia. In this context, the region is further known to modern scholars as Transeuphratia. Functioning as a satrapy, it was originally administered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire before being absorbed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and then by the Achaemenid Empire. During the Greek conquest of Persia, Eber-Nari was, like the rest of the Achaemenid Empire, annexed by the Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great. It was later dissolved by the Seleucid Empire, which incorporated it into Syria, along with Assyria.
Ancient Near East studies is the field of academic study of the ancient Near East (ANE). As such it is an umbrella term for Assyriology, in some cases extending to Egyptology.
The NAM-BÚR-BI are magical texts which take the form of incantations. They were named for a series of prophylactic Babylonian and Assyrian rituals to avert inauspicious portents before they took on tangible form. At the core of these rituals was an appeal by the subject of the sinister omen to the divine judicial court to obtain a change to his impending fate. From the corpus of Babylonian-Assyrian religious texts that has survived, there are approximately one hundred and forty texts, many preserved in several copies, to which this label may be applied.
The cuneiform ru sign is found in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. As ru it is used for syllabic ru, and alphabetic 'r', or 'u'. In the I-XII Tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh, it has specific uses showing alternate renderings besides ru; as sign no. 068, ru, 250 times, šub, 6, šup, 3, and as Sumerogram ŠUB, 1 time. In the Amarna letters, the sign is mostly used for ru, r, and u in the spelling of various words. Notably, for "bird", Akkadian language "iṣṣūru", in Amarna letter EA 28,, titled "Messengers Detained and a Protest"; the messengers are referenced as "uncaged" birds, and "aren't they free to come and go as birds do?".
The cuneiform alphabetic um sign, also dup, tup, ṭup, and DUB, the Sumerogram (logogram), for Akkadian language "ṭuppu",, is found in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Amarna letters as um, it is found as um-ma in the introduction of the letters as "Message (thus)"...(and then the PN of the individual sending, or authoring the letter).
The cuneiform ma sign, is found in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Epic it is also used as the Sumerogram MA, . The ma sign is often used at the end of words, besides its alphabetic usage inside words as syllabic ma, elsewhere for m, or a.
The cuneiform DAGAL sign, which is a capital letter (majuscule) Sumerogram with the Akkadian language meaning of to be wide, or extensive; also "many", Akkadian "rapāšu", is a minor usage cuneiform sign used in the Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. An equivalent usage sign for DAGAL is used in the Amarna letters, gáb, for Akkadian language "gabbu", and is found in such letters as EA 362, EA 367, and others. Gáb has other syllabic values, which are used for separate Akkadian word components.
The cuneiform sign (𒀊) for the syllable ab also represents that for ap, or the vowel and consonant usages of a, b, or p: in the Akkadian language "b" is unaspirated, formed with the lips, and "p" is aspirated, with the breath). In the Akkadian language "b" and "p" are interchangeable; also, in cuneiform texts, any vowel can be interchanged with any other. The ab/ap sign also has a corresponding capital letter (majuscule) usage as a sumerogram, as found in the Epic of Gilgamesh for AB, the Akkadian language for šību, meaning "elder".
The cuneiform bi sign, also pí, and used for other syllabic forms, as well as a sumerogram, is a common use syllabic and alphabetic cuneiform sign used in both the mid-14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Amarna letters, it is sometimes used for the spelling of the archers, 'pí-t(x)-t(x)', an often requested need from the Pharaoh in the vassal state sub-corpus of the letters.
The cuneiform na sign is a common, multi-use sign, a syllabic for na, and an alphabetic sign used for n, or a; it is common in both the Epic of Gilgamesh over hundreds of years, and the 1350 BC Amarna letters. In the Epic of Gilgamesh it also has sumerogramic usage for NA. An example usage for NA in the Epic is for the spelling of NA.GAD,, for Akkadian language "nāqidu", "herdsman". The usage for NA in herdsman is only for 3 spellings.
The cuneiform bad, bat, be, etc. sign is a common multi-use sign in the mid 14th-century BC Amarna letters, and the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Epic it also has 5 sumerogram uses. From Giorgio Buccellati 'comparative graphemic analysis', of 5 categories of letters, the usage numbers of the bad sign are as follows: Old Babylonian Royal letters (71), OB non-Royal letters (392), Mari letters (2108), Amarna letters (334), Ugarit letters (39).
The cuneiform sign tu, and for TU-(the Sumerogram, capital letter, in the Hittite language and other cuneiform texts, is a common-use syllabic sign for tu, and also with a syllabic use for "t", or "u". It is not a multi-use sign, with other alphabetic sub-varieties.
The cuneiform sign gáb,, is an uncommon-use sign of the Amarna letters, and other cuneiform texts. It is possibly an equivalent sign for the later version of DAGAL, , with an, , replacing the earlier version, the "star", contained within the cuneiform sign. This later version of DAGAL is somewhat similar to gáb,. The meaning of "DAGAL", Akkadian language for "extensive" – compares to the Amarna letters use of gáb as Akkadian language "gabbu", English language for "all", or "all "
Frances Reynolds is a Shillito Fellow in Assyriology at the Oriental Institute St Benet's Hall, Oxford. Her speciality is in Babylonian and Assyrian intellectual history, literature and religion, with an emphasis on the late second and first millennia BC.
MUNUS, 𒊩, or SAL is the capital-letter (majuscule) Sumerogram for the Akkadian language word "ṣuhārtu", young woman, or woman. The word is commonly used in the Amarna letters diplomatic letters, as well as elsewhere, for example in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The cuneiform sign za is a common use sign in the Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. It is used syllabically for ṣa, za, and ZA, and alphabetically for "ṣ" (s), "z", or "a".
Grant Frame is a Canadian-American Assyriologist, Professor Emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania, and Curator Emeritus of the Babylonian Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He is an expert on Akkadian language and literature and on the history and culture of ancient Mesopotamia in the first millennium BCE, in particular the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods. Since 2008, he has served as Director and Editor-in-Chief of The Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period (RINAP), an international research project funded by the U.S. government's National Endowment for the Humanities and other granting agencies, to translate the royal inscriptions of the rulers of Assyria from 744 to 609 BC. The RINAP project marks the continuation of the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia (RIM) project, which Frame's teacher and mentor, Albert Kirk Grayson, founded at the University of Toronto in 1978 and led until his retirement with support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
