Arthur Amiaud (8 January 1849, in

Villefagnan Villefagnan () is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. Population See also *Communes of the Charente department The following is a list of the 359 communes of the Charente department of France on 1 January 2025 ...

– 22 May 1889, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a French

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logy, -logia''), also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cune ...

and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

. Initially a law student in

Poitiers Poitiers is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune in France, commune, the capital of the Vienne (department), Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou, Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 9 ...

, he later devoted his energies towards philology, taking classes in

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 ...

at the

École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...

and the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

in Paris. While a student, he was introduced to

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n and

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

n studies by way of influence from Julius Oppert. Following graduation, he became a lecturer in Syriac languages at the École des lettres d'Alger (1880). In 1881 he returned to Paris, where he served as a lecturer at the École pratique des hautes études. In 1888 he was appointed director-adjoint of the school. Amiaud is remembered for his research of Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions. In his later years he dedicated himself mostly to the study of the

Telloh Girsu ( Sumerian ; cuneiform ) was a city of ancient Sumer, situated some northwest of Lagash, at the site of what is now Tell Telloh in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. As the religious center of the kingdom of Lagash, it contained significant temple ...

Inscriptions. He died in Paris on 30 May 1889, age 40.Archiv.org
Full text of "General Notes and Notices (Arthur Amiaud: Obituary)"

Published works

* ''Matériaux pour le dictionnaire assyrien'', 1881 – Materials for an Assyrian dictionary. * ''La légende syriaque de saint Alexis, l'homme de Dieu'', 1884 – The Syriac legend of St. Alexis, a man of God. * ''Découvertes en Chaldée'', Paris, E. Leroux, 1884-1912; (2 volumes, co-authors: Ernest de Sarzec, Léon Heuzey, François Thureau-Dangin) – Discoveries in

Chaldaea Chaldea () refers to a region probably located in the marshy land of southern Mesopotamia. It is mentioned, with varying meaning, in Neo-Assyrian cuneiform, the Hebrew Bible, and in classical Greek texts. The Hebrew Bible uses the term (''Ka� ...

. * ''Cyrus, roi de Perse'', 1886 –

Cyrus Cyrus () is a Persian-language masculine given name. It is historically best known as the name of several List of monarchs of Iran, Persian kings, most notably including Cyrus the Great, who founded the Achaemenid Empire in 550 BC. It remains wid ...

, King of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. * ''Tableau comparé des écritures babylonienne et assyrienne, archaiques et modernes : avec classement des signes d'après leur forme archaique'', 1887, (with Lucien Méchineau) – Comparative table of Babylonian and Assyrian writings, ancient and modern.IDREF.fr
bibliography * ''Les nombres ordinaux en Assyrien'', 1889 – Assyrian

ordinal numbers In set theory, an ordinal number, or ordinal, is a generalization of ordinal numerals (first, second, th, etc.) aimed to extend enumeration to infinite sets. A finite set can be enumerated by successively labeling each element with the leas ...

. * ''Les inscriptions de Salmanasar II : roi d'Assyrie (860-824)'', 1890 (with

Jean-Vincent Scheil Father Jean-Vincent Scheil (born 10 June 1858, Kœnigsmacker – died 21 September 1940, Paris) was a French Dominican scholar and Assyriologist. He is credited as the discoverer of the Code of Hammurabi in Persia. In 1911 he came into possessio ...

) – Inscriptions of

Shalmaneser Shalmaneser (''Salmānu-ašarēd'') was the name of five kings of Assyria: * Shalmaneser I ( 1274–1245 BC) * Shalmaneser II (1030–1019 BC) * Shalmaneser III (859–824 BC) * Shalmaneser IV (783–773 BC) * Shalmaneser V (727–722 BC), who appe ...

, King of Assyria. He was the author of articles in the following publications: The ''

Journal asiatique The ''Journal asiatique'' (; full earlier title ''Journal Asiatique ou Recueil de Mémoires, d'Extraits et de Notices relatifs à l'Histoire, à la Philosophie, aux Langues et à la Littérature des Peuples Orientaux'') is a biannual peer-reviewed ...

'', the ''Revue Critique'', the ''Revue d'Assyriologie'', the "Babylonian and Oriental Record", and the ''Zeitschrift für Assyriologie''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amiaud, Arthur 1849 births 1889 deaths French philologists French Assyriologists People from Charente Collège de France alumni École pratique des hautes études alumni Academic staff of the École pratique des hautes études