Henry William Frederick Saggs (2 December 1920 – 31 August 2005) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

classicist 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 ...

and orientalist.

Early life and education

Saggs was born in East Anglia on 2 December 1920. He attended Clacton County High School, following which he went to King's College London where he studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, graduating in 1942. Saggs fought in the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

with the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

. He suffered a broken back following an air accident in 1944. His brother, Arthur Roy Saggs, a sergeant in the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, died on 4 January 1945 in South Africa on a training flight, aged 20. In 1946, he married his wife Joan Butterworth. They had four daughters. He began his Assyriological studies at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury a ...

, London, under Sidney Smith after the war. In 1952, he joined

Max Mallowan Sir Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan (6 May 1904 – 19 August 1978) was a prominent British archaeologist, specialising in ancient Middle Eastern history. He was the second husband of Dame Agatha Christie. Life and work Born Edgar Mallowan in Wands ...

's excavation at

Nimrud Nimrud (; syr, ܢܢܡܪܕ ar, النمرود) is an ancient Assyrian city located in Iraq, south of the city of Mosul, and south of the village of Selamiyah ( ar, السلامية), in the Nineveh Plains in Upper Mesopotamia. It was a m ...

under the aegis of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq. Saggs was awarded his PhD degree in 1953 for his dissertation titled ''A study of city administration in Assyria and Babylonia in the period 705 to 539 B.C.'' He joined SOAS as a lecturer in

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

Career

Saggs has been described as "one of the outstanding

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 ...

s of his generation". His life's work, encouraged by Max Mallowan, was the publication of 243 letters found at the Nimrud archive of cuneiform tablets. These were released as a series of articles in the journal ''Iraq'' and the book ''The Nimrud Letters 1952'' (Cuneiform Texts from Nimrud V). In 1965, Saggs worked at Tell al-Rimah in northern Iraq, and published a business archive of tablets dating from Middle Assyrian. In 1966, Saggs was invited to take the Chair of Semitic Languages in

University College, Cardiff , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

. He served as Professor there from 1966 to 1983. Here he established good relations with Iraq's universities, inviting and training a series of Iraqi Assyriologists who then became influential in their own country. He also expanded Cardiff's specialisations to Ugaritic and Aramaic studies. Saggs taught at

Baghdad University The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt. Nomenclature Both University ...

in 1956-57, and later at

Mosul University The University of Mosul is a public university located in Mosul. It is one of the largest educational and research centers in the Middle East, and the second largest in Iraq, behind the University of Baghdad. The University of Mosul was closed b ...

. He published the Anzu tablet of Sherifkhan with his former student Amir Suleiman, who was head of the department of arts at Mosul.

Later life

Following his retirement, Saggs remained active both academically and in his pursuit of Old Testament studies, becoming a lay reader at Roydon, near Harlow. He published works popularising Assyriology and the history of the ancient Near East. Saggs died on 31 August 2005.

Honours

Saggs was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...

Bibliography

* ''

The Greatness That Was Babylon ''The Greatness That Was Babylon'' (1962; second edition 1988) is a book about Babylonia by the Assyriologist H. W. F. Saggs. Summary Saggs, writing for the "general reader", describes the ancient Babylonians before and during the ancient Assy ...

'' (1962) * ''Everyday Life in Assyria and Babylonia'' (1965) * ''

The Might That Was Assyria ''The Might That Was Assyria'' (1984; ) is a 1984 book by the Assyriologist H. W. F. Saggs, in which the author illustrates the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Saggs spent half of his life studying the ancient Assyrians, before he wrote the book. See also ...

'' (1984) * ''Civilisation before Greece and Rome'' (1989) * ''The Babylonians'' (1995)

Early life and education

Career

Later life

Honours

Bibliography

References

Other links