Édouard Paul Dhorme (15 January 1881 in

Armentières Armentières (; vls, Armentiers) is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. The motto of the town is ''Pauvre mais fière'' (Poor but proud). Geogra ...

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

– 19 January 1966 in

Roquebrune-Cap-Martin Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (; oc, Ròcabruna Caup Martin or ; it, Roccabruna-Capo Martino, ; Mentonasc: ''Rocabrüna''; Roquebrune until 1921) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, Southeastern Fr ...

(

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, it ...

)) was a French

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , '' -logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southea ...

, Semitologist and translator of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

Career

He was director of the French School of Biblical Archeology in Jerusalem from 1927 to 1930, and director of studies at

École pratique des hautes études The École pratique des hautes études (), abbreviated EPHE, is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is highly selective, and counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions. It is a constituent college o ...

from 1933 to 1951, and a professor at

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...

from 1945 to 1951. He was elected a member of the

Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions ( epig ...

in 1948. One of his greatest works treated of the religions of

Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...

and

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...

. His French translation of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

was prepared under the direction of Gallimard at the

Bibliothèque de la Pléiade The ''Bibliothèque de la Pléiade'' (, "Pleiades Library") is a French editorial collection which was created in 1931 by Jacques Schiffrin, an independent young editor. Schiffrin wanted to provide the public with reference editions of the c ...

. Along with Hans Bauer, Dhorme is credited with the decipherment of the

Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic language, classified by some as a dialect of the Amorite language and so the only known Amorite dialect preserved in writing. It is known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeologis ...

writing system.

Principal publications

* ''Études bibliques. Choix de textes religieux assyro-babyloniens, transcription, traduction, commentaire'', Paris, 1907 * ''La Religion assyro-babylonienne : conférences données à l'Institut catholique de Paris'', Paris, 1910 * ''Études bibliques : Les livres de Samuel'', Paris, 1910 * ''L'emploi métaphorique des noms de parties du corps en hébreu et en akkadien'', Paris, 1923. * ''Études bibliques : Le livre de Job. Introduction, traduction et commentaire'', Paris, 1926 * ''Langues et Écritures sémitiques'', 1930 * ''La Poésie biblique. Introduction à la poésie biblique et trente chants de circonstance'', Paris, 1931 * ''L'Evolution religieuse d'Israël. Tome I. La religion des Hébreux nomades'', 1937 * ''Les Religions de Babylonie et d'Assyrie'', suivi de ''Les Religions des Hittites et des Hourrites, des Phéniciens et des Syriens'' par René Dussaud, 1945 ; 1949 * ''Recueil Édouard Dhorme : études bibliques et orientales'', Paris : Impr. Nationale, 1951 * ''La Bible'', Paris : Gallimard, 1956 * ''A Commentary on the Book of Job''(translation into English and preface by Francis I. Andersen - Nelson 1983)

Bibliography

*Agnès Spycket, « Les Archives d'Édouard Dhorme (1881-1966) à la bibliothèque du Saulchoir » in ''Revue Biblique'', 104:1 (1997): 5-39. Palmyrean and Syriac.
Biographie d'Édouard Dhorme sur le site Persée

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René Dussaud René Dussaud (; December 24, 1868 – March 17, 1958) was a French Orientalist, archaeologist, and epigrapher. Among his major works are studies on the religion of the Hittites, the Hurrians, the Phoenicians and the Syriacs. He became curator ...

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dhorme, Edouard French Assyriologists Academic staff of the École pratique des hautes études Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 1881 births People from Armentières 1966 deaths French male non-fiction writers 20th-century French historians Academic staff of the Collège de France 20th-century French translators 20th-century French male writers