Arthur Amiaud (8 January 1849, in Villefagnan – 22 May 1889, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) 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 ...

and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

. Initially a law student in

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...

, he later devoted his energies towards philology, taking classes in

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...

at the

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 ...

and the

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 ...

in Paris. While a student, he was introduced to

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 ...

n and

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...

n studies by way of influence from

Julius Oppert Julius (Jules) Oppert (9 July 1825 – 21 August 1905) was a French-German Assyriologist, born in Hamburg of Jewish parents. Career After studying at Heidelberg, Bonn and Berlin, he graduated at Kiel in 1847, and the next year went to France, wh ...

. Following graduation, he became a lecturer in

Syriac languages The Syriac language (; syc, / '), also known as Syriac Aramaic (''Syrian Aramaic'', ''Syro-Aramaic'') and Classical Syriac ܠܫܢܐ ܥܬܝܩܐ (in its literary and liturgical form), is an Aramaic dialect that emerged during the first century ...

at the École des lettres d'Alger (1880). In 1881 he returned to Paris, where he served as a lecturer at the École pratique des hautes études. In 1888 he was appointed director-adjoint of the school. Amiaud is remembered for his research of Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions. In his later years he dedicated himself mostly to the study of the

Telloh Girsu ( Sumerian ; cuneiform ) was a city of ancient Sumer, situated some northwest of Lagash, at the site of modern Tell Telloh, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. History Girsu was possibly inhabited in the Ubaid period (5300-4800 BC), but sign ...

Inscriptions. He died in Paris on 30 May 1889, age 40.Archiv.org
Full text of "General Notes and Notices (Arthur Amiaud: Obituary)"

Published works

* ''Matériaux pour le dictionnaire assyrien'', 1881 – Materials for an Assyrian dictionary. * ''La légende syriaque de saint Alexis, l'homme de Dieu'', 1884 – The Syriac legend of St. Alexis, a man of God. * ''Découvertes en Chaldée'', Paris, E. Leroux, 1884-1912; (2 volumes, co-authors:

Ernest de Sarzec Ernest Choquin de Sarzec (1832–1901) was a French archaeologist, to whom is attributed the discovery of the civilization of ancient Sumer. He was in the French diplomatic service; on being transferred to Basra in 1872 as a vice-consul, he bec ...

Léon Heuzey Léon Heuzey (1 December 1831, Rouen – 8 February 1922, Paris) was a noted French archaeologist and historian. Life and career In 1855 Heuzey went to Greece as a member of the École française d'Athènes, and for the next two years traveled ex ...

François Thureau-Dangin François Thureau-Dangin (3 January 1872 in Paris – 24 January 1944 in Paris) was a French archaeologist, assyriologist and epigrapher. He played a major role in deciphering of the Sumerian and Akkadian languages. He studied under Julius ...

) – Discoveries in

Chaldaea Chaldea () was a small country that existed between the late 10th or early 9th and mid-6th centuries BCE, after which the country and its people were absorbed and assimilated into the indigenous population of Babylonia. Semitic-speaking, it was ...

. * ''Cyrus, roi de Perse'', 1886 –

Cyrus Cyrus ( Persian: کوروش) is a male given name. It is the given name of a number of Persian kings. Most notably it refers to Cyrus the Great ( BC). Cyrus is also the name of Cyrus I of Anshan ( BC), King of Persia and the grandfather of Cyrus ...

, King of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. * ''Tableau comparé des écritures babylonienne et assyrienne, archaiques et modernes : avec classement des signes d'après leur forme archaique'', 1887, (with Lucien Méchineau) – Comparative table of Babylonian and Assyrian writings, ancient and modern. * ''Les nombres ordinaux en Assyrien'', 1889 – Assyrian

ordinal numbers In set theory, an ordinal number, or ordinal, is a generalization of ordinal numerals (first, second, th, etc.) aimed to extend enumeration to infinite sets. A finite set can be enumerated by successively labeling each element with the least n ...

. * ''Les inscriptions de Salmanasar II : roi d'Assyrie (860-824)'', 1890 (with

Jean-Vincent Scheil Father Jean-Vincent Scheil (born 10 June 1858, Kœnigsmacker – died 21 September 1940, Paris) was a French Dominican scholar and Assyriologist. He is credited as the discoverer of the Code of Hammurabi in Persia. In 1911 he came into possessi ...

) – Inscriptions of Shalmaneser, King of Assyria. He was the author of articles in the following publications: The ''

Journal asiatique The ''Journal asiatique'' (full earlier title ''Journal Asiatique ou Recueil de Mémoires, d'Extraits et de Notices relatifs à l'Histoire, à la Philosophie, aux Langues et à la Littérature des Peuples Orientaux'') is a biannual peer-reviewed a ...

'', the ''Revue Critique'', the ''Revue d'Assyriologie'', the "Babylonian and Oriental Record", and the ''Zeitschrift für Assyriologie''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amiaud, Arthur 1849 births 1889 deaths French philologists French Assyriologists People from Charente Collège de France alumni École pratique des hautes études alumni Academic staff of the École pratique des hautes études Assyriologists