François Thureau-Dangin
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François Thureau-Dangin (3 January 1872 in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...
– 24 January 1944 in Paris) was a French archaeologist,
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
epigrapher Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
. He played a major role in deciphering of the Sumerian and Akkadian languages. He studied under Julius Oppert in Paris, and from 1895, was associated with duties performed at the
Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
, where in 1908, he was appointed assistant curator of the Oriental Antiquities department, in french th
département des Antiquités orientales
where he spent most of his career and whom he led from 1925 to 1928. On behalf of the Louvre museum, he conducted then excavations at Arslan Tash (1927) and at
Til Barsip Til Barsip or Til Barsib ( Hittite Masuwari, modern Tell Ahmar; ar, تل أحمر) is an ancient site situated in Aleppo Governorate, Syria by the Euphrates river about 20 kilometers south of ancient Carchemish. History The site was inhabited a ...
(1929–1931).Historical Dictionary of Mesopotamia
by Gwendolyn Leick
He was a leading expert on Babylonian
cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...
texts, and worked on a theory concerning the origins of cuneiform writing, publishing the treatise ''Recherches sur l'origine de l'écriture cunéiforme'' (1898) as a result. In 1905 he published ''Les inscriptions de Sumer et d'Akkad''. This work, containing a transcription and translation of Mesopotamian royal inscriptions from the Archaic period of Sumer to the second millennium BC., puts an end to the controversies over the origin of the cuneiform and marks a decisive stage in the deciphering of Sumerian. It will be followed in 1926 by an Accadian Syllabary (sic) and, in 1929, by ''Homomorphes sumériens''. In 1910, he created the ''Textes cunéiformes du Louvre'' ''(TCL)'' series and became the co-director of the ''Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale (RA)''. Along with Georges Dossin, he founded the '' Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale'', an association of
orientalists In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
, which hosts international events. He was a member of the '' Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres'' and a corresponding fellow of the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...
.


Works (selection)

* ''Recherches sur l'origine de l'écriture cunéiforme'', 1898 – Research on the origin of cuneiform writing. * ''Recueil de tablettes chaldéennes'', 1903 – Collection of Chaldean tablets. * ''Inscriptions de Sumer et d'Akkad'', 1905 – Inscriptions of Sumer and Akkad. * ''Die sumerischen und akkadischen Königsinschriften'', Hinrichs, Leipzig 1907 (Vorderasiatische Bibliothek, Bd. 1, Abt. 1; Neudruck 1972). * ''Lettres et contrats de l'époque de la première dynastie babylonienne'', 1910. * ''Rituels accadiens''. Leroux, Paris 1921 (Neudruck Zeller, Osnabrück 1975, ) * ''Les cylindres de Goudéa découverts par Ernest de Sarzec à Tello''. (54 planches), with Ernest de Sarzec, 1925 – The cylinders of Goudéa discovered by Ernest de Sarzec at Telloh. * ''Le syllabaire accadien'', 1926 – Akkadian syllabary. * ''Textes mathématiques babyloniens''. Brll, Leiden 1938 – Babylonian mathematical texts.WorldCat Identities
Most widely held works by F Thureau-Dangin


Bibliography

* Joseph W. Dauben, Christoph J. Scriba (Hrsg.): ''Writing the history of mathematics. Its historical development''. Birkhäuser, Basel u. a. 2002, , (''Science networks'' 27).


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thureau-Dangin, Francois 1872 births 1944 deaths Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni French Assyriologists French epigraphers French archaeologists French historians of mathematics Scientists from Paris Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Members of the Société Asiatique