Georges Contenau (April 9, 1877 – March 22, 1964) was a French archeologist, curator, orientalist and religious historian who was an expert in the field of culture and religion of the ancient civilizations of the Near and Middle East.

Life

Contenau was professor at the University of Brussels from 1932 to 1947. He was chief curator of Oriental antiquities - in French th
Département des Antiquités orientales
- at the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

from 1927 to 1946. He led several archaeological expeditions to

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

Sidon Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...

and

Nahavand Nahavand () is a city in the Central District of Nahavand County, Hamadan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. It is south of the city of Hamadan, west of Malayer and northwest of Borujerd. Inhabited ...

. From 1946 to 1957 he was director general of the French Archaeological Mission in Iran. He wrote about the civilization of the Babylonians and Assyrians (1922), their daily life (1950), their Magic (1947) and divination (1940). He also wrote on the Phoenicians (1926), Hittite and Hurrians (1948). He issued a four-volume Handbook of Oriental Archaeology (1927–1947) and commenced the publication of the ''Encyclopédie d'archéologie orientale'' (1914–1957). One of his students at the

École du Louvre The École du Louvre () is a selective institution of higher education and prestigious ''grande école'' located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology ...

was Denise Cocquerillat and his assistant was Marguerite Rutten.

Some publications

*''L'Art de l'Asie occidentale ancienne'', Paris, éd. G. van Oest, 1928 *''les civilisations des Hittites et des Mitanniens'', Paris, 1934 *''La Civilisation d'Assur et de Babylone'', Paris, 1937 *''La Médecine en Assyrie et en Babylonie'', Paris, 1937, 2de éd. 1951 *''La Divination chez les Assyriens et les Babyloniens'', 1940 *''La Vie quotidienne à Babylone et en Assyrie'', Paris, 1950 (translated into several languages) *''Les religions de l'Orient ancien'', 1957 *''Les civilisations anciennes du Proche-Orient'', Paris, éd. Presses Universitaires de France, coll. Que sais-je ?, 1960
Liste des ouvrages de Contenau traduits en allemand

References

External links

Georges Contenau
on data.bnf.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Contenau, Georges French Assyriologists 1877 births 1964 deaths People from Laon Officers of the Legion of Honour French expatriates in Belgium French archaeologists 20th-century French historians French historians of religion