Sir Godfrey Rolles Driver (20 August 1892 – 22 April 1975), known as G. R. Driver, was an
English Orientalist noted for his studies of
Semitic languages and
Assyriology
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 ...
.
[J. A. Emerton, 'Driver, Sir Godfrey Rolles (1892–1975)'. In '' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004.] He is considered the "most distinguished British Hebraist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries".
Life
Driver was born in
Oxford,
England, son of the noted English
biblical scholar
Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 Fo ...
Samuel Rolles Driver, and educated at
Winchester College and
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...
, (1911–1915) where he won the Pusey and Ellerton and Senior Kennicott Hebrew Scholarships and the
Gaisford Prize for
Greek prose (1913) and for
Greek verse (1916).
After serving in
World War I, with tasks as varied as hospital work, postal censorship, and intelligence, in 1919, he was named fellow and classical tutor in
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...
. He remained at Oxford for his entire career, ultimately as Professor of Semitic Philology, and produced a steady stream of scholarly articles on subjects including vocabulary of the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
, and words and texts in the
Akkadian,
Arabic,
Aramaic,
Hebrew, and
Syriac language
The Syriac language (; syc, / '), also known as Syriac Aramaic (''Syrian Aramaic'', ''Syro-Aramaic'') and Classical Syriac ܠܫܢܐ ܥܬܝܩܐ (in its literary and liturgical form), is an Aramaic language, Aramaic dialect that emerged during ...
s.
From 1937 to 1938 Driver was the president of the
Society for Old Testament Study The Society for Old Testament Study (SOTS) is a learned society, based in the British Isles, of professional scholars and others committed to the study of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament.
History
SOTS was inaugurated at King's College, London on ...
, unusually for a two-year period. In 1959, he was the president of the third congress of
The International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament.
He directed the translation of the Old Testament for the
New English Bible from its inception in 1949, completed and first published in 1970.
Selected works
* ''Letters of the first Babylonian dynasty'', OECT III, 1925.
* ''Studies in Cappadocian Tablets'', Paris, 1927.
* ''Semitic Writing: From Pictograph to Alphabet'', 1948 (
Schweich Lectures for 1944).
* ''The Babylonian Laws'', with J. C. Miles, Oxford, 1952–1955.
* ''Aramaic Documents of the Fifth Century B.C.'', Oxford, 1954 (Abridged and Revised edition 1957).
* ''Canaanite Myths and Legends'', Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1956.
* ''The Judaean scrolls: The problem and a solution'', Oxford: Blackwell, 1965.
References
Sources
*
CDLI Wiki
*
F.F. BruceGodfrey Rolles Driver (1892–1975) ''The Witness'', 105, No. 1255, pp. 266–267 (July 1975).
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Driver, Godfrey Rolles
1892 births
1975 deaths
People from Oxford
People educated at Winchester College
Alumni of New College, Oxford
English orientalists
English Assyriologists
Christian Hebraists
Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford
Fellows of the British Academy
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Knights Bachelor
Recipients of the Military Cross
Presidents of the Society for Old Testament Study