NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Assyriologist

Assyriology is the historical and archaeological study of ancient Mesopotamia. The field covers not just Assyria but also that nation's eventual conqueror, Babylonia and the predecessor of both civilisations, Sumer. The large number of cuneiform clay tablets preserved by these cultures provide an enormous resource for the study of the period and the region's (and the world's) first cities such as Ur are archaeologically invaluable as for studying the growth of urbanisation. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Euphrates (the traditional Greek name, Arabic: Ø§Ù„ÙØ±Ø§Øª; Al-Furat, Hebrew: ×¤Ö°Ö¼×¨Ö¸×ª, Kurdish and Turkish: FÄ±rat, Old Persian: Ufrat, Syriac: Ü¦ÜªÜ˜Ü¬ or Ü¦ÜªÜ¬; Frot or PrÃ¢th, Akkadian: Pu-rat-tu) is the westernmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia (the other being the Tigris). ... The Tigris River (Arabic: Ø¯Ø¬Ù„Ø© Dijla, Hebrew: ×—×“×§×œ á¸¥iddeqel, Kurdish: DÃ®jle, Pahlavi: Tigr, Old Persian: TigrÄ-, Syriac: Ü•Ü©Ü Ü¬ Deqlath, Turkish: Dicle, Akkadian: Idiqlat) is the eastern member of the pair of great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of Anatolia through Iraq (the name Mesopotamia... It has been suggested that Edubba be merged into this article or section. ... Uruk (Sumerian Unug, Biblical Erech, Greek OrchoÃ« and Arabic Warka), was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates, on the line of the ancient Nil canal, in a region of marshes, about 140 miles SSE from Baghdad. ... Ur seen across the Royal tombs, with the Great Ziggurat in the background, January 17, 2004 Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, located near the original mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers on the Persian Gulf and close to Eridu. ... Eridu (or Eridug) was an ancient city seven miles southwest of Ur . ... Kish [kish] (Tall al-Uhaymir) was an ancient city of Sumer, now in central Iraq. ... Lagash or Sirpurla was one of the oldest cities of Sumer and later Babylonia. ... The city of Nippur [nipoor] (Sumerian Nibru, Akkadian Nibbur) was one of the most ancient of all the Babylonian cities of which we have any knowledge, the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god, Enlil, ruler of the cosmos subject to An alone. ... The Akkadian Empire usually refers to the Semitic speaking state that grew up around the city of Akkad north of Sumer, and reached its greatest extent under Sargon of Akkad. ... Akkad (or Agade) was a city and its region of northern Mesopotamia, situated on the left bank of the Euphrates, between Sippar and Kish (located in present-day Iraq, ca. ... Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu (bÄb-ilÃ», meaning Gateway of the god, translating Sumerian Kadingirra), an ancient city in Mesopotamia (modern Al Hillah, Iraq). ... An International Securities Identifying Number (ISIN) uniquely identifies a fungible security, its structure is defined in ISO 6166. ... Winged sphinx from the palace of Darius the Great at Susa. ... Relief from Assyrian capital of Dur Sharrukin, showing transport of Lebanese cedar (8th c. ... Assur, also spelled Ashur, from Assyrian AÅ¡Å¡ur, was the capital of ancient Assyria. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Human-headed winged bull, found during Bottas excavation. ... Nimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located south of Nineveh on the river Tigris. ... Babylonia, named for its capital city, Babylon, was an ancient state in the south part of Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... Chaldea, the Chaldees of the KJV Old Testament, was a Hellenistic designation for a part of Babylonia. ... Elam (Persian: Ø§ÛŒÙ„Ø§Ù…) is one of the most ancient civilizations on record. ... Amorite (Hebrew â€™emÅrÃ®, Egyptian Amar, Akkadian Tidnum or AmurrÅ«m (corresponding to Sumerian MAR.TU or Martu) refers to a Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates from the second half of the third millennium BC, and also the god they worshipped (see Amurru). ... The Hurrians were a people of the Ancient Near East, who lived in northern Mesopotamia and areas to the immediate east and west, beginning approximately 2500 BC. They probably originated in the Caucasus and entered from the north, but this is not certain. ... Mitanni or Mittani (in Assyrian sources Hanilgalbat, Khanigalbat) was a Hurrian kingdom in northern Syria during the later 2nd millennium BC. The name was later used as a geographical term for the area between the Khabur and Euphrates rivers in Neo-Assyrian times. ... The Kassites were a Near Eastern mountain tribe of obscure origins, who spoke a non-Indo-European, non-Semitic language. ... Urartu (Biainili in Urartian) was an ancient kingdom in eastern Anatolia, centred in the mountainous region around Lake Van (present-day Turkey), which existed from about 1000 BC, or earlier, until 585 BC. The name may correspond to the Biblical Ararat. ... The Chronology of the Ancient Orient deals with the notoriously difficult task of assigning years of the Common Era to various events, rulers and dynasties of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. The chronology of this region is based on five sets of primary materials. ... The Sumerian king list is an ancient text in the Sumerian language listing kings of Sumer from Sumerian and foreign dynasties. ... This page lists the Kings of Assyria from earliest times. ... The following is a list of the Kings of Babylon, a major city of ancient Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq. ... The cuneiform script is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. ... The Sumerian language of ancient Sumer was spoken in Southern Mesopotamia from at least the 4th millennium BC. Sumerian was replaced by Akkadian as a spoken language around 2000 BC, but continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial and scientific language in Mesopotamia until about 1 AD. Then, it... Akkadian (liÅ¡Änum akkadÄ«tum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language family) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... Elamite is an extinct language, which was spoken in the ancient Elamite Empire. ... Hurrian is a conventional name for the language of the Hurrians, a people who entered northern Mesopotamia around 2300 BC and had mostly vanished by 1000 BC. // Language interrelations Hurrian is an agglutinative language which belongs to neither the Semitic nor the Indo-European language families. ... This article is in need of attention. ... EnÃ»ma Elish is the creation epic of Babylonian mythology. ... According to the Sumerian king list, Gilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk (Early Dynastic II, first dynasty of Uruk), the son of Lugalbanda. ... Marduk [mÃ¤rdook] (Sumerian spelling in Akkadian AMAR.UTU solar calf; Biblical Merodach) was the name of a late generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon, who, when Babylon permanently became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of Hammurabi... This article is in need of attention. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Relief from Assyrian capital of Dur Sharrukin, showing transport of Lebanese cedar (8th c. ... Babylonia, named for its capital city, Babylon, was an ancient state in the south part of Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... It has been suggested that Edubba be merged into this article or section. ... The cuneiform script is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. ... Ur seen across the Royal tombs, with the Great Ziggurat in the background, January 17, 2004 Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, located near the original mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers on the Persian Gulf and close to Eridu. ...

As an academic discipline, Assyriology presents itself as one of the most demanding fields in the humanities. Scholars need a good knowledge of several Semitic languages (including Akkadian and Biblical Hebrew), and the capacity to absorb the complexities of writing systems with several hundred core signs. While there now exist many important grammatical studies and lexical aids, many texts remain difficult to interpret accurately. Frequently, this is because the tablets they were written on 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. 14th century BC diplomatic letter in Akkadian, found in Tell Amarna. ... Akkadian language city of Akkad or Agad Akkadian Empire Sargon of Akkad the Amarna letters and Amarna Letters EA 296(Yahtiru) This is a disambiguation page â€” a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Categories: Language stubs | Judaism-related stubs | Canaanite languages | Hebrew language ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

There are many dialects of Akkadian, the language of Assyria and Babylonia, ranging from the earliest texts in Old Akkadian and related Eblaite in the 3rd millennium BC, down to texts written in the first century of the common era. Some dialects are indigenous (for example, that found in merchant texts from Anatolia, called Old Assyrian), others appear to be specific 'inventions' of certain groups of literati or religious authorities (the Hymnic Epic dialect, and later, Standard Babylonian). Akkadian language city of Akkad or Agad Akkadian Empire Sargon of Akkad the Amarna letters and Amarna Letters EA 296(Yahtiru) This is a disambiguation page â€” a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... (4th millennium BC â€“ 3rd millennium BC â€“ 2nd millennium BC â€“ other millennia) // Events The 3rd millennium BC represents the beginning of factual history, since it is the first time we do have real names to name and detailed stories to tell. ... Asia Minor lies east of the Bosporus, between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. ...

The writing system is based upon that developed in southern Mesopotamia for the Sumerian language. Sumerian has no other known cognates, and an entirely different grammatical system. Despite this difference, the adaptation of the writing system, together with many lexical items, as well as possible influence on Akkadian grammar, make reading any Akkadian text a challenging task. The Sumerian language of ancient Sumer was spoken in Southern Mesopotamia from at least the 4th millennium BC. Sumerian was replaced by Akkadian as a spoken language around 2000 BC, but continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial and scientific language in Mesopotamia until about 1 AD. Then, it... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The writing system was also adapted for other languages, including Hittite, Hurrian, and Ugaritic. A related cuneiform writing system also appeared for Elamite. The Hittite language is the dead language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who once created an empire centered on ancient Hattusa (modern BoÄŸazkÃ¶y) in north-central Anatolia (modern Turkey). ... The word Hurrian may refer to: An ancient people of the Near East, the Hurrians. ... The Ugaritic language is known to us only in the form of writings found in the lost city of Ugarit since its discovery by French archaeologists in 1928. ... Elamite is an extinct language, which was spoken in the ancient Elamite Empire. ...

The categories of literature which exist are enormous, including documents such as business and legal records, religious texts, canonical literary texts (for example, the Epic of Gilgamesh), historical inscriptions of rulers, personal letters, music mathematical and pseudo-scientific texts (omen series). There are lexical series of a type which reflect a scholarly interest in comparative linguistics, including the preservation of knowledge of the Sumerian language for religious and cultural purposes. In fact, because cuneiform was used for close to 3000 years the range of records is as naturally diverse as that found in writing today, notwithstanding lower literacy rates in antiquity. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a literary work from Babylonia, dating from long after the time that king Gilgamesh was supposed to have ruled. ...

The 'creation' of the history of Mesopotamian culture is thus heavily filtered by the technical skills required to adequately understand 'what the text means'. It has also been traditionally close to Biblical studies, though this is less so today. However, training of Assyriologists has followed a traditional historical-philological path - in fact, a PhD apprenticeship, with less attention paid to questions around the philosophy of history, comparative anthropology or other fields which in easier circumstances, might be easier to incorporate in both training and publications. Few universities teach advanced Assyriology, and not that many teach, for example, introductory Akkadian which at least provides some orientation to the language and culture of the Latin of the Ancient Near East. These include, in the United States, Cornell University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ... This is about the university. ... Harvard University campus (old map) Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... The Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, is a private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. ... The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. ... This article is about the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. ... The University of Pennsylvania (Penn is the moniker used by the university itself [2]) is a private, nonsectarian research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... Yale redirects here. ...

However, there are important international projects online publishing photos, sign-copies and various editions of text, such as the Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary, the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, and the Digital Corpus of Cuneiform Lexical Texts.

Assyriologists

Admiral Sir Jeremy Black KCB DSO MBE ADC was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Naval Home Command on 6 June 1989. ... Edward Hincks Edward Hincks (August 19, 1792 - December 3, 1866), Irish Assyriologist and one of the decipherers of Mesopotamian cuneiform. ... Samuel Noah Kramer, born in [1897] in the [Ukraine], died in 1990, in the USA was one of the worlds leading Assyriologists and a world renouned expert in Sumerian history and Sumerian language. ... Benno Landsberger (born 21 April 1890, died 26 April 1968) was one of the most important German Assyriologists He was born in Friedek (Schleswig) and from 1908 studied Oriental Studies at Liepzig. ... The Right Honourable Sir Austen Henry Layard (5 March 1817â€“5 July 1894) was a British author and diplomatist, best known as the excavator of Nineveh. ... Christopher Johnston, Ph. ... William Lambert Moran (August 11, 1921 â€” December 19, 2000), was an American Assyriologist, he was born in Chicago, USA. In 1939, Moran joined the Jesuit order. ... Hormuzd Rassam (1826-1910) was an Assyriologist and traveller, born at Mosul of Christian parents. ... The name George Smith refers to a number of people: George Smith, former valet and footman to Charles, Prince of Wales George Smith, Victorian Assyriologist George Smith, founder of the Glenlivet Distillery in Ballindalloch, Scotland George Smith southeast London architect George Smith, Republican representative for Pennsylvania (1809-1812) George Smith... Hayim Tadmor (1923-2005) was a leading Israeli Assyriologist, and a profound influence on many students and scholars of the Ancient Near East throughout the world. ...

Assyriologists GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

See also

Assyriologists