James Vincent Kinnier Wilson (27 November 1921 – 22 December 2022) was a British

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, sout ...

. He was Eric Yarrow Lecturer, from 1955 until 1989, and Emeritus Fellow,

Wolfson College, Cambridge Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The majority of students at the college are postgraduates. The college also admits "mature" undergraduates (aged 21 and above), with around ...

Life and career

Kinnier Wilson was born in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 27 November 1921. The youngest son of the neurologist

Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson (December 6, 1878 – May 12, 1937) was an American-born British neurologist. His research of hepatolenticular degeneration led the disease to be named after him as Wilson's disease. He was the father of British ...

, he combined a skill in reconstructing Mesopotamian legends and epics with an enduring interest in the study of the organic and mental diseases of ancient

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

. Kinnier Wilson lived in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He last published works in 2016. The

Ancient India and Iran Trust The Ancient India and Iran Trust was founded in 1978, and occupies a unique position in the UK. It is the only independent charity concerned with the study of early India, Iran & Central Asia, promoting both scholarly research & popular interest in ...

held a 100th birthday celebration for Wilson on 26 November 2021. He died on 22 December 2022, at the age of 101.

University career

*1946: Admitted to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

*1949: BA (Oxon), in (Classical) Hebrew and Assyriology. 1952, MA *1950: Appointed Lecturer in Assyriology,

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_cha ...

*1951–52: Research year at The Oriental Institute,

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

*1953–55: Lecturer and (one year) Asst. Prof.,

University College, Toronto University College, popularly referred to as UC, is a constituent college of the University of Toronto, created in 1853 specifically as an institution of higher learning free of religious affiliation. It was the founding member of the university ...

*1955–89: Appointed Eric Yarrow Lecturer in Assyriology, University of Cambridge *1965–67: Chairman, Faculty of Oriental Studies, Cambridge

Publications

* ''The Nimrud Wine Lists: A study of men and administration at the Assyrian capital in the Eighth Century BC'' ( The British School of Archaeology in Iraq, London, 1972) * ''Indo-Sumerian: A new approach to the problems of the Indus Script'' (

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, Oxford, 1974) * ''The Rebel Lands: An investigation into the Origins of Early Mesopotamian Mythology'' (

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

, 1979) * ''The Legend of Etana: A new edition'' (Aris and Phillips, Warminster, 1985) * ''Studia Etanaica: new texts and discussions, Alter Orient und Altes Testament, Band 338'' (Ugarit-Verlag, Münster, 2007) * * ''Towards Novaluation: God's Work and Ours at the End of the Age'' (Janus Publishing Company, 2010)

Selected chapters and articles

* "An Introduction to Babylonian Psychiatry", The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Assyriological Studies, No. 16, Chicago, pp. 289–298, 1965 * "Organic diseases of Ancient Mesopotamia", and "Mental diseases of Ancient Mesopotamia", in D Brothwell and A T Sandison, eds., Diseases in Antiquity: a Survey of the Diseases, injuries and Surgery of Early Populations, (Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois), Chaps. 15 and 56, 1967 * "Medicine in the Land and the Times of the Old Testament", in Studies-in the period of David and Solomon and other Essays, ed. Tomo Ishida (Yamakawa-Shuppansha, Tokyo), pp. 339–365, 1982 * "The 'Seven Cities' of the Indus Script: a Restatement", South Asian Studies, 12, pp. 99–104, 1996 * “'On the Ud-shu-bala eather changeat Ur towards the End of the Third Millennium BC", Iraq LXVII/2, pp. 47–60, 2005 * "On Stroke and Facial Palsy in Babylonian Texts" (with E. H. Reynolds), in Disease in Babylonia. ed. I.L. Finkel and M.J. Geller (Brill, Leiden), pp. 67–99, 2007

Media

* Narrator in the short film, "The Poor Man of Nippur — World's first film in Babylonian" produced by the University of Cambridge Department of Archaeology (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, James Kinnier 1921 births 2022 deaths Academics of Durham University Academics of the University of Cambridge Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Assyriologists British biblical scholars British centenarians British expatriates in Canada British expatriates in the United States English Assyriologists Men centenarians