Georges Gilles Joseph Dossin (4 February 1896, in Wandre, near

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

– 8 December 1983, in Liège) was a Belgian

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

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

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

Biography

He studied in Liège and Paris, earning doctorates in

classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

(1921) and oriental history and literature (1923).Dictionnaire des orientalistes de langue française
edited by François Pouillon From 1924 to 1945 he taught classes on the art history of

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

at the Institut Royal d'Histoire de l'Art et d'Archeologie de Bruxelles, and in the meantime, taught various courses in the fields of art history and archaeology at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

(1924–1935); classes in

Akkadian language Akkadian (, Akkadian: )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218-280 is an extinct East Semitic language th ...

at the Institut des Hautes Études de Belgique in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

(1929–39), and classes in oriental history and Assyro-Babylonian languages at the Université libre de Bruxelles (1935–1941).Prosopo
Sociétés savantes de France After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he continued work as a lecturer at the Institut des Hautes Études de Belgique (1945–1955) and at the Université libre de Bruxelles (1946–1951), eventually serving as a professor of Assyriology and

comparative grammar Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness i ...

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 University of Liège (1951–1966). Under the directorship of

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 ...

, he performed excavatory work at

Arslan Tash Arslan Tash ( tr, Arslan Taş "Lion Stone"), ancient Hadātu, is an archaeological site in Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, around east of Carchemish and the Euphrates and nearby the town of Kobanî. History The city was the center of an Ar ...

(1928) and

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 ...

(1931) in northern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, and later on, spent a number years working with

André Parrot André Charles Ulrich Parrot (15 February 1901 – 24 August 1980) was a French archaeologist specializing in the ancient Near East. He led excavations in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, and is best known for his work at Mari, Syria, where he led i ...

at the excavation site of Mari (1937–1939, 1951–1953). Dossin is credited with deciphering thousands of ancient tablets.Akkadica
General information about the Foundation Georges Dossin He was a member of the Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique and a ''membre correspondant étranger'' 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 ...

(1944). With Thureau-Dangin, he was co-founder of the ''Rencontres Assyriologiques''.

Published works (selection)

* ''Autres textes sumériens et accadiens'', 1927 – Other

Sumeria Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...

n and Akkadian texts. * ''Arslan-Tash'', 1931 (with François Thureau-Dangin). * ''Lettres de la première dynastie babylonienne'', 1933 – Letters on the

First Babylonian Dynasty The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to BC – BC, and comes after the end of Sumer, Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The chronology of the first dy ...

. * ''Til-Barsib'', 1936 (with François Thureau-Dangin). * ''Benjaminites dans les textes de Mari'', 1939 – Benjamites in the texts from Mari. * ''Archives royales de Mari'', 1946 (with André Parrot) – Royal archives of Mari.OCLC Classify
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dossin, Georges 1896 births 1983 deaths Academic staff of the University of Liège Assyriologists Belgian art historians Belgian orientalists Belgian archaeologists Belgian philologists 20th-century archaeologists Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy 20th-century philologists Belgian expatriates in France