Theodore Kwasman is an American
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 professor for Jewish studies. He is best known for his discovery of the first lines of the
Epic of Gilgamesh
The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, and is regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with ...
.
Life
Theodore Kwasman was born in New York and began his studies at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
, where he read
Northwest Semitic languages with
Stanislav Segert and
Ethiopic languages with
Wolf Leslau
__NOTOC__
Wolf Leslau ( yi, וולף לסלאו; born November 14, 1906 in Krzepice, Vistula Land, Poland; died November 18, 2006 in Fullerton, California) was a scholar of Semitic languages and one of the foremost authorities on Semitic langua ...
. He continued his university education at
Heidelberg University
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Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, B ...
, where he passed his doctorate
under the Assyriologist Karlheinz Deller.
He started his academic career at the
Center for Jewish Studies Heidelberg
The Center for Jewish Studies Heidelberg (German: Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg, or HfJS) is an Accreditation, accredited institution of higher learning, supported by the Central Council of Jews in Germany and funded by the German f ...
, after which he became Professor for Jewish Studies at the
University of Duisburg-Essen
The University of Duisburg-Essen (german: link=no, Universität Duisburg-Essen) is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', the university was awarded ...
. A few years later he moved to the Martin-Buber-Institut für Judaistik at the
University of Cologne
The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...
from where he retired in 2015.
In 1998, he discovered among the cuneiform tablets of the Kouyunjik Collection in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
the first lines of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
[Theodore Kwasman: A new Join to the Epic of Gilgameš Tablet I, ''N.A.B.U'', 1998, no. 3 (Septembre), p. 98; https://www.independent.co.uk/news/first-lines-of-oldest-epic-poem-found-1185270.html]
Academic works (selection)
* ''Untersuchung zu Einbandfragmenten und ihre Beziehung zum Palästinischen Talmud'' (Heidelberg, 1986).
* Legal Transactions of the royal court of Niniveh Part I: Tiglath-Pileser III through Esarhaddon, ''State Archives of Assyria VI'', edited by Theodore Kwasman and Simo Parpola (Helsinki, 1991), .
* Neo-Assyrian Legal Documents in the Kouyunjik Collection of the British Museum, ''Studia Pohl: Series Maior 14'' (Rome, 1988), .
* together with Christa Müller-Kessler, A Unique Talmudic Aramaic Incantation Bowl, ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' 120 (2000), pp. 159–165.
* Two Aramaic Legal Documents, ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'' 63 (2000), pp. 274–283.
* Der Dämon des Daches. Über Epilepsie in jüdischen Quellen, ''Heilkunde und Hochkultur. Geburt, Seuche und Traumdeutung in den antiken Zivilisationen des Mittelmeerraumes'', edited by A. Karenberg and Ch. Leitz (Münster, 2000), pp. 35–43.
* Look it up in...? Aramaic Lexicography. Some General Observations, ''Aramaic Studies'' 1 (2003), pp. 191–209.
* together with Markham Judah Geller, Two More Triangular Aramaic Tablets, ''Shlomo. Studies in Epigraphy, Iconography, Historyand Archaeology in Honor of Shlomo Moussaieff'', edited by R. Deutsch (Tel Aviv-Yafo 2003), pp. 99–104.
* together with Ada Rapaport-Albert, Late Aramaic. The Literary and Linguistic Context of the "Zohar", ''Aramaic Studies'' 4 (2006), 5-19.
* A New Assyrian Royal Funerary Text, ''Of God(s), Trees, Kings, and Scholars. Neo-Assyrian and Related Studies in Honour of Simo Parpola'' edited by Mikko Luukko, Saana Svärd, and Raija Mattila, (Helsinki, 2009) 111-125, .
* Hebrew Graffiti on Ardashir I's Relief at Naqsh-i Rustam, ''Iranica Antiqua'' 47 (2012), pp. 399–403.
* A New Dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' 132 (2012), pp. 73–95.
* Some Remarks on the so-called "Bird Text", ''ISIMU'' 20-21 (2017-2018), pp. 205–220.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwasman, Theodore
American Assyriologists
1949 births
Living people
Academic staff of the University of Duisburg-Essen
Academic staff of the University of Cologne