Åke W. Sjöberg
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Åke W. Sjöberg (August 1, 1924 – August 8, 2014) was a leading Assyriologist, specialized in
Sumerian language Sumerian ) was the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the List of languages by first written account, oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 2900 BC. It is a local language isolate that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the a ...
and
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
.


Biography


Early years

Åke Waldemar Sjöberg, emeritus Clark Research Professor of Assyriology and emeritus Curator of the Tablet Collection at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, was born in Sala in the province of Västmanland,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, on August 1, 1924, to his parents, postmaster Bernhard Waldemar Sjöberg and Mary Ingeborg Zetterberg. After elementary schooling in Sala, he was able to pursue an education at
Fjellstedt School The Fjellstedt School (Swedish: ) was a private boarding school in Uppsala, Sweden, founded in 1862 and closed in 1982, with the main aim of preparing students for academic studies in theology and the priesthood in the Lutheran Church of Swed ...
, a renowned boarding school in
Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...
. The curriculum there had a heavy emphasis on the study of languages, including Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. In 1946 he enrolled at
Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...
to study
Semitic Languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...
under Professor H. S. Nyberg. He also followed courses in the History of Religion, Ethnography and
Assyriology Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia''), also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cuneiform writing. The fie ...
. In 1953, Sjöberg married his wife Gunnil (née Kronborg). Sjöberg's interest in the cuneiform cultures of the
ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...
, and especially the languages of Akkadian and Sumerian led him to spend eight semesters between 1953 and 1959 in Heidelberg, where he studied under Adam Falkenstein. In 1960 Sjöberg successfully defended his doctoral thesis on the Sumerian moon-god Nanna-Suen in Sumerian sources.


Professional career in the United States

A few years after his doctoral defense, he was invited to the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
, where, in January 1963, he joined the staff at the Oriental Institute, assisting in compiling the Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD). After having spent three years in Chicago, he moved on to the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
in 1966, where he mainly taught Akkadian classes. Two years later he succeeded
Samuel Noah Kramer Samuel Noah Kramer (September 28, 1897 – November 26, 1990) was one of the world's leading Assyriologists, an expert in Sumerian history and Sumerian language. After high school, he attended Temple University, before Dropsie University and t ...
as Clark Research Professor in Assyriology, taking over the post as Curator of the Tablet Collections of the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, working alongside his colleagues Barry Eichler and Erle Leichty. Together with Erle Leichty, Sjöberg managed to secure funding for a dictionary of the Sumerian Language, The
Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary (PSD) is a project to compile a comprehensive dictionary of the Sumerian language. It is run out of the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and funded by both private donors and ...
(PSD). The dictionary project was based on Sjöberg's extensive collection of file cards containing lexicographic information on Sumerian words and expressions, on which he had been working since his days as a student. The main work on the project began in 1976. The main sponsor was the
National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
, but contributions also came from other institutions and individuals. Between 1984 and 1998, four volumes of the dictionary were published, covering the letters A and B. A large measure of inspiration for this project can be ascribed to Sjöberg's days in Chicago, as a contributor to the Assyrian Dictionary. Sjöberg received a number of honours. Among them, an honorary doctorate in theology at Uppsala University in 1994, and in 2005 he was elected member of the Honorary Council of the
International Association for Assyriology The International Association for Assyriology (IAA) is a non-profit, non-political organization founded in July 2003, and seated in Leiden that "the fields of Cuneiform Studies, ancient Near Eastern History and Archaeology on an international basi ...
. In 2010, having held his doctorate for 50 years, he became a jubilee doctor at the Uppsala University spring doctoral promotions ceremony. He has had two Festschrift volumes published in his honour, the first to celebrate his 65th birthday in 1989; the second was published in 2013 (see Selected writings for both of them). He was also an elected member of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
. Åke Sjöberg's high standards of philological treatments of literary and religious texts, and his lexicographical expertise in Sumerian are widely acknowledged. Apart from his dissertation and the four volumes of the PSD, he published a monograph treating the collection of Sumerian ''
Temple Hymns A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
'' (based on notes and copies of Eugen Bergmann, with a chapter by Gene Gragg), and scores of academic articles in English, German and Swedish, treating a wide variety of linguistic and cultural matters related to Near Eastern societies.Bibliography of Åke W. Sjöberg in Uppsala University's Library Catalogue


Return to Sweden

Åke Sjöberg's retirement in 1996 did not lead to his work coming to a halt; something that his long list of publications attests to. In early 2004 he and his wife Gunnil moved back to Uppsala. Despite his age Sjöberg regularly participated in seminars at Uppsala University, sharing his experiences and knowledge to younger generations of scholars and students. Sjöberg died in Uppsala, Sweden, on 8 August 2014, one week after his ninetieth birthday.


Selected writings

* * * * *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sjoberg, Ake 1924 births 2014 deaths People from Sala Municipality, Sweden Uppsala University alumni University of Chicago people University of Pennsylvania faculty Linguists from Sweden Assyriologists Members of the American Philosophical Society