Assyriology
Encyclopedia
Assyriology is the archaeological, historical, and linguistic study of ancient Mesopotamia
(ancient Iraq
) and the related cultures that used cuneiform writing. The field covers the Akkadian
sister-cultures of Assyria
and Babylonia
, together with their cultural predecessor; Sumer
. The large number of cuneiform clay tablets preserved by these cultures provide an enormous resource for the study of the period. The region's (and the world's) first cities such as Ur
are archaeologically invaluable for studying the growth of urbanization.
Scholars need a good knowledge of several languages: Akkadian
and its major dialects and Sumerian
, aided by such languages as Biblical Hebrew, Hittite
, Elamite and Aramaic for comparative purposes, and the knowledge of writing systems that use several hundred core signs. There now exist many important grammatical studies and lexical aids. Although scholars can draw from a large corpus of literature, some tablets are broken, or in the case of literary texts where there may be many copies, the language and grammar are arcane. Moreover, scholars must be able to read and understand modern English, French, and German, as important references, dictionaries, and journals are published in those languages.
(also known as Benjamin Son of Jonah), a rabbi from Navarre, who visited the Jews of Mosul and their ruins during his travels throughout the Middle East. The identification of the city of Babylon was made in 1616 by Pietro Della Valle
. Not only did Pietro give "remarkable descriptions" of the site, but he also brought back to Europe inscribed bricks that he had found at Nineveh and Ur .
, a Danish mathematician, made copies of cuneiform inscriptions at Persepolis
as well as sketches and drawing of Nineveh, and was shortly followed by André Michaux
, a French botanist and explorer, who sold the French Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris an inscribed boundary stone found near Baghdad. The first known archeological excavation in Mesopotamia was led by Abbé Beauchamp, papal vicar general at Baghdad, excavating the sculpture now generally known as the "Lion of Babylon." Abbé Beauchamp's memoirs of his travels, published in 1790, sparked a sensation in the scholarly world, generating a number of archeological and academic expeditions to the Middle East. In 1811, Claudius James Rich
, an Englishman and a resident for the East India Company in Baghdad, began examining and mapping the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh, and collecting numerous inscribed bricks, tablets, boundary stones, and cylinders, including the famous Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder and Sennacherib Cylinder, a collection which formed the nucleus of the Mesopotamian antiquities collection at the British Museum. Before his untimely death at the age of 34, he wrote two memoirs on the ruins of Babylon and the inscriptions found therein, two works which may be said to "mark the birth of Assyriology and the related cuneiform studies."
" by Thomas Hyde
in 1700, were long considered to be merely decorations and ornaments. It was not until late in the 18th century that they came to be considered some sort of writing, when in 1778 Carsten Niebuhr
, the Danish Mathematician, published accurate copies of three trilingual inscriptions from the ruins at Persepolis
. Niebuhr showed that the inscriptions were written from left to right, and that each of the three inscriptions contained three different types of cuneiform writing, which he labeled Class I, Class II, and Class III. Class I was determined to be alphabetic and consisting of 44 characters, and was written in Old Persian. It was first deciphered by Georg Friedrich Grotefend
and Henry Creswicke Rawlinson between 1802 and 1848. The second inscription, Class II, proved more difficult to translate. In 1850, Edward Hincks published a paper showing that the Class II was not alphabetical, but was in fact both syllabic and ideographic, which led to its translation between 1850 and 1859. The language was at first called Babylonian and/or Assyrian, but has now come to be known as Akkadian
.
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
(ancient Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
) and the related cultures that used cuneiform writing. The field covers the Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
sister-cultures of Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
and Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
, together with their cultural predecessor; Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
. The large number of cuneiform clay tablets preserved by these cultures provide an enormous resource for the study of the period. The region's (and the world's) first cities such as Ur
Ur
Ur was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate...
are archaeologically invaluable for studying the growth of urbanization.
Scholars need a good knowledge of several languages: Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
and its major dialects and Sumerian
Sumerian language
Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism...
, aided by such languages as Biblical Hebrew, Hittite
Hittite language
Hittite is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia...
, Elamite and Aramaic for comparative purposes, and the knowledge of writing systems that use several hundred core signs. There now exist many important grammatical studies and lexical aids. Although scholars can draw from a large corpus of literature, some tablets are broken, or in the case of literary texts where there may be many copies, the language and grammar are arcane. Moreover, scholars must be able to read and understand modern English, French, and German, as important references, dictionaries, and journals are published in those languages.
From classical antiquity to modern excavation
For many centuries knowledge of Mesopotamia was largely confined to often dubious classical sources. From the Middle Ages onward, there were scattered reports of ancient Mesopotamian ruins. As early as the 12th century, the ruins of Nineveh were correctly identified by Benjamin of TudelaBenjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 12th century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years...
(also known as Benjamin Son of Jonah), a rabbi from Navarre, who visited the Jews of Mosul and their ruins during his travels throughout the Middle East. The identification of the city of Babylon was made in 1616 by Pietro Della Valle
Pietro Della Valle
Pietro della Valle was an Italian who traveled throughout Asia during the Renaissance period. His travels took him to the Holy Land, the Middle East, Northern Africa, and as Far as India.-Biography:...
. Not only did Pietro give "remarkable descriptions" of the site, but he also brought back to Europe inscribed bricks that he had found at Nineveh and Ur .
18th Century and birth
Between 1761 and 1767, Carsten NiebuhrCarsten Niebuhr
Carsten Niebuhr or Karsten Niebuhr , a German mathematician, cartographer, and explorer in the service of Denmark, is renowned for his travels on the Arabian peninsula.-Biography:...
, a Danish mathematician, made copies of cuneiform inscriptions at Persepolis
Persepolis
Perspolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire . Persepolis is situated northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran. In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid...
as well as sketches and drawing of Nineveh, and was shortly followed by André Michaux
André Michaux
André Michaux was a French botanist and explorer.-Biography:Michaux was born in Satory, now part of Versailles, Yvelines. After the death of his wife within a year of their marriage he took up the study of botany and was a student of Bernard de Jussieu...
, a French botanist and explorer, who sold the French Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris an inscribed boundary stone found near Baghdad. The first known archeological excavation in Mesopotamia was led by Abbé Beauchamp, papal vicar general at Baghdad, excavating the sculpture now generally known as the "Lion of Babylon." Abbé Beauchamp's memoirs of his travels, published in 1790, sparked a sensation in the scholarly world, generating a number of archeological and academic expeditions to the Middle East. In 1811, Claudius James Rich
Claudius James Rich
Claudius James Rich , British business agent, traveller and antiquarian scholar,-Biography:Rich was born near Dijon....
, an Englishman and a resident for the East India Company in Baghdad, began examining and mapping the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh, and collecting numerous inscribed bricks, tablets, boundary stones, and cylinders, including the famous Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder and Sennacherib Cylinder, a collection which formed the nucleus of the Mesopotamian antiquities collection at the British Museum. Before his untimely death at the age of 34, he wrote two memoirs on the ruins of Babylon and the inscriptions found therein, two works which may be said to "mark the birth of Assyriology and the related cuneiform studies."
Decipherment of cuneiform
One of the largest obstacles scholars had to overcome during the early days of Assyriology was the decipherment of curious triangular markings on many of the artifacts and ruins found at Mesopotamian sites. These markings, which were termed "cuneiformCuneiform
Cuneiform can refer to:*Cuneiform script, an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC*Cuneiform , three bones in the human foot*Cuneiform Records, a music record label...
" by Thomas Hyde
Thomas Hyde
Thomas Hyde was an English orientalist. The first use of the word dualism is attributed to him, in 1700.-Life:He was born at Billingsley, near Bridgnorth in Shropshire, on 29 June 1636...
in 1700, were long considered to be merely decorations and ornaments. It was not until late in the 18th century that they came to be considered some sort of writing, when in 1778 Carsten Niebuhr
Carsten Niebuhr
Carsten Niebuhr or Karsten Niebuhr , a German mathematician, cartographer, and explorer in the service of Denmark, is renowned for his travels on the Arabian peninsula.-Biography:...
, the Danish Mathematician, published accurate copies of three trilingual inscriptions from the ruins at Persepolis
Persepolis
Perspolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire . Persepolis is situated northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran. In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid...
. Niebuhr showed that the inscriptions were written from left to right, and that each of the three inscriptions contained three different types of cuneiform writing, which he labeled Class I, Class II, and Class III. Class I was determined to be alphabetic and consisting of 44 characters, and was written in Old Persian. It was first deciphered by Georg Friedrich Grotefend
Georg Friedrich Grotefend
Georg Friedrich Grotefend was a German epigraphist.-Life:He was born at Hann. Münden and died in Hanover. He was educated partly in his native town, partly at Ilfeld, where he remained till 1795, when he entered the university of Göttingen, and there became the friend of Heyne, Tychsen and Heeren...
and Henry Creswicke Rawlinson between 1802 and 1848. The second inscription, Class II, proved more difficult to translate. In 1850, Edward Hincks published a paper showing that the Class II was not alphabetical, but was in fact both syllabic and ideographic, which led to its translation between 1850 and 1859. The language was at first called Babylonian and/or Assyrian, but has now come to be known as Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
.
Assyriologists
Noted Assyriologists include:- Alfonso Archi
- Taha BaqirTaha BaqirTaha Baqir was an Iraqi archaeologist, author, cuneiformist, linguist, historian, and former curator of the National Museum of Iraq.Baqir is considered one of Iraq's most eminent archaeologists...
- Robert D. BiggsRobert D. BiggsRobert D. Biggs is an Assyriology professor. He received his PhD at Johns Hopkins University. He is an editor of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies.-External links:*...
- Jeremy BlackJeremy Black (Assyriologist)Jeremy Allen Black, BA, BPhil, MA, DPhil was a British Assyriologist and Sumerologist, founder of the online Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature....
- Rykle BorgerRykle BorgerRiekele or Rykle Borger was a German Assyriologist of Dutch origin.Most famous for his cuneiform signlists, he also published the important work "Handbuch der Keilschriftliteratur", a detailed overview of all the published books and articles related to Assyriology that were available at the time...
- Jean BotteroJean BottéroJean Bottéro was a French historian. He was a major Assyriologist and a renowned expert on the Ancient Near East...
- Giorgio Raffaele Castellino
- Antoine Cavigneaux
- Dominique Charpin
- Miguel CivilMiguel CivilMiguel Civil is an assyriologist at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, and a scholar of Sumerology.Civil's training includes a Ph.D. at the University of Paris in 1965. Civil has written several books, and is also editor of the lexical series Materials for the Sumerian Lexicon .-...
- Jerrold Cooper
- Franco D'Agostino
- Friedrich DelitzschFriedrich DelitzschFriedrich Delitzsch was a German Assyriologist. Born in Erlangen, he studied in Leipzig and Berlin, and in 1874 was habilitated as a lecturer of Semitic languages and Assyriology in Leipzig. In 1885 he became a "full professor" at Leipzig, and afterwards a professor at the Universities of Breslau ...
- Igor DiakonovIgor DiakonovIgor Mikhailovich Diakonov was a Russian historian, linguist, and translator and a renowned expert in the Ancient Near East and its languages....
- Jean-Marie Durand
- D. Otto Edzard
- Robert K. Englund
- Adam FalkensteinAdam FalkensteinAdam Falkenstein was a German Assyriologist.Born in Planegg, near Munich, Falkenstein taught as a professor at the Göttingen University , Heidelberg University...
- J.J. Finkelstein
- Ignace GelbIgnace GelbIgnace Jay Gelb was a Polish-American ancient historian and Assyriologist who pioneered the scientific study of writing systems...
- Andrew George
- Albrecht GoetzeAlbrecht GoetzeAlbrecht Goetze was a German-American Hittitologist.Goetze was Professor of Semitic languages at the University of Marburg when the Nazi regime came to power in 1933. It was through the initiative of Edgar H. Sturtevant that Goetze was invited to Yale University in 1934, a move that was to prove...
- Bulcsú László
- Donald WisemanDonald WisemanDonald John Wiseman OBE, FBA was a Biblical scholar, archaeologist and Assyriologist. He was Professor of Assyriology at the University of London from 1961 to 1982.-Early life and beliefs:...
- Mamoru Yoshikawa
- William W. HalloWilliam W. HalloWilliam Wolfgang Hallo was professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature and curator of the Babylonian collection at Yale University....
- Paul HauptPaul HauptHermann Hugo Paul Haupt was a Semitic scholar, one of the pioneers of Assyriology in the United States....
- Wolfgang J. Heimpel
- Hermann Hilprecht
- Edward HincksEdward HincksThe Reverend Edward Hincks was an Irish clergyman, best remembered as an Assyriologist and one of the decipherers of Mesopotamian cuneiform....
- Thorkild JacobsenThorkild JacobsenThorkild Jacobsen was a renowned historian specializing in Assyriology and Sumerian literature.He was one of the foremost scholars on the ancient Near East.-Biography:...
- Anne D. Kilmer
- Leonard William KingLeonard William KingLeonard William King , M.A., F.S.A., was an English archaeologist and Assyriologist educated at Rugby School and King's College in Cambridge. He collected stone inscriptions widely in the Near East, taught Assyrian and Babylonian archaeology at King's College for a number of years, and published a...
- Jacob KleinJacob KleinProfessor Jacob Klein , former holder of the Herman Mark Chair of Polymer Physics in the Materials and Interfaces Department at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel and Dr Lee's Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, is a internationally-renowned soft condensed matter, polymer and...
- Samuel Noah KramerSamuel Noah KramerSamuel Noah Kramer was one of the world's leading Assyriologists and a world renowned expert in Sumerian history and Sumerian language.-Biography:...
- Manfred Krebernik
- Wilfred G. LambertWilfred G. LambertWilfred G. Lambert, FBA was a historian and archaeologist, a specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology.Retired after long service from the University of Birmingham, he worked with the British Museum on their Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals Project, dealing with the...
- Benno LandsbergerBenno LandsbergerBenno Landsberger was one of the most important German Assyriologists.- Early life and education :...
- Austen Henry LayardAusten Henry LayardSir Austen Henry Layard GCB, PC was a British traveller, archaeologist, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, author, politician and diplomat, best known as the excavator of Nimrud.-Family:...
- Mario LiveraniMario LiveraniMario Liverani was born in Rome in 1939. He is Professor of Ancient Near East History at the University of Rome La Sapienza. He is a member of many institutions, such as the American Oriental Society, Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, and doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Copenhagen and...
- Meredith G. KlineMeredith G. KlineMeredith G. Kline was an American theologian and Old Testament scholar advance in Archeology, both Assyriology and Egyptology.-Academic career:...
- Wolfram von SodenWolfram von SodenWolfram Freiherr von Soden was a German Assyriologist.-Life and work:Born in Berlin, von Soden studied under Benno Landsberger at Leipzig and received his doctorate in 1931, at age 23, with his thesis Der hymnisch-epische Dialekt des Akkadischen...
- Pietro Mander
- Stefan Maul
- Alan MillardAlan MillardAlan Ralph Millard is Rankin Professor Emeritus of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages, and Honorary Senior Fellow , at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology in the University of Liverpool....
- William L. MoranWilliam L. MoranWilliam Lambert Moran was an American Assyriologist. He was born in Chicago, United States.In 1939, Moran joined the Jesuit order. He then attended Loyola University in Chicago, where he received his B.A. in 1944. After this, he taught Latin and Greek in a high school in Cincinnati between 1946...
- A. Leo OppenheimA. Leo OppenheimA Leo Oppenheim , one of the most distinguished Assyriologists of his generation was editor-in-charge of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute 1955-1974 and John A. Wilson Professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Chicago.Oppenheim was born in Vienna, where he received...
- Jules Oppert
- David I. Owen
- Simo ParpolaSimo ParpolaSimo Parpola is a Finnish archaeologist, currently professor of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki. He specialized in epigraphy of the Akkadian language, and has been working on the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project since 1987...
- Giovanni PettinatoGiovanni PettinatoGiovanni Pettinato was a paleographer of writings from the ancient Near East, specializing in the Eblaite language, His major contributions to the field include the deciphering of the Eblaite script, discovered by P. Matthiae in 1974-5....
- Sergio Angelo Picchioni
- Theophilus Goldridge Pinches
- Francesco Pomponio
- Arno Poebel
- J. Nicholas Postgate
- John Dyneley PrinceJohn Dyneley PrinceJohn Dyneley Prince was an American linguist, diplomat, and politician. He was a professor at New York University and Columbia University, minister to Denmark and Yugoslavia, and leader of both houses of the New Jersey Legislature.-Early life:Prince was born in New York City in 1868, the son of...
- Hormuzd RassamHormuzd RassamHormuzd Rassam , was a native Assyrian Assyriologist, British diplomat and traveller who made a number of important discoveries, including the clay tablets that contained the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world's oldest literature...
- Erica ReinerErica ReinerErica Reiner was an American Assyriologist and author. From 1974, she was Editor of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, which was published in 21 volumes over 55 years, being completed in 2011 after her death. Reiner was associated with the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago...
- Francesca RochbergFrancesca RochbergFrancesca Rochberg is an American Assyriologist, historian of science, and Catherine and William L. Magistretti Distinguished Professor of Near Eastern Studies at University of California, Berkeley....
- Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet
- Walther Sallaberger
- Archibald Henry Sayce
- Åke W. Sjöberg
- George SmithGeorge Smith (assyriologist)George Smith , was a pioneering English Assyriologist who first discovered and translated the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest-known written work of literature.-Early life and early career:...
- Piotr Steinkeller
- Marten Stol
- François Thureau-Dangin
- Marc van de MieroopMarc van de MieroopMarc Van de Mieroop is a professor of Ancient Near Eastern history at Columbia University.In addition to his articles and translations, his book publications include:*Crafts in the Early Isin Period ,...
- Johannes J.A. van Dijk
- Klaas VeenhofKlaas VeenhofKlaas R. Veenhof is a Dutch Assyriologist with Dutch origin connected with the University of Leiden. He has specialized in the Old-Babylonian time and the Old-Assyrian trade colonies such as Kanesh.- Selected bibliography :...
- Claus WilckeClaus WilckeClaus Wilcke is a German actor who has played Americans in the German TV shows Percy Stuart and I.O.B. Spezialauftrag. He has also dubbed many American actors including Elvis Presley and Michael Landon for cinema and TV. He has won several German awards. -Career:Claus Wilcke started as a stage...
- Raymond Westbrook
- James Kinnier WilsonJames Kinnier WilsonJames Kinnier Wilson is a British Assyriologist, was Eric Yarrow Lecturer, from 1955 until 1989, and is Emeritus Fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge.-Life:...
See also
- Ancient Near EastAncient Near EastThe ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Iran The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia...
- Chronology of the ancient Near EastChronology of the ancient Near EastThe chronology of the Ancient Near East provides a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Individual inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers, taking forms like "in the year X of king Y". Thus by piecing together many...
- EgyptologyEgyptologyEgyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
- Iranian StudiesIranian StudiesIranian studies , is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of history, literature, art and culture of the Iranian people. It is a part of the wider field of Oriental studies....
- Mesopotamia in Classical literature