Georges Raymond Nicolas Albert Roux (; November 16, 1914 – August 12, 1999) was a French writer, author of the popular history books about 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 ...

, ''Ancient Iraq'' and ''La Mésopotamie''. Son of a French Army officer, Roux moved with his family to the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

at the age of nine where he subsequently lived for 12 years in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

before returning to France in 1935. Roux was educated by Jesuits in Beirut and studied medicine at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, where he graduated in medicine in 1941 and later studied Oriental studies at

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 ...

. In 1950 Roux became a medical officer for the

Iraq Petroleum Company The Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), formerly known as the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC), is an oil company that had a virtual monopoly on all oil exploration and production in Iraq between 1925 and 1961. It was jointly owned by some of the world ...

(IPC), spending his first two years in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

and the remainder in Iraq. During his time with the IPC the company produced the magazines ''Iraq Petroleum'' and ''The Crescent'', and Roux was commissioned to produce articles. Through the duration of 1956-1960, Roux published a series of articles, ''The Story of Ancient Iraq''. They form the basis of his later books. After the

14 July Revolution The 14 July Revolution, also known as the 1958 Iraqi military coup, was a ''coup d'état'' that took place on 14 July 1958 in Iraq, resulting in the toppling of King Faisal II and the overthrow of the Hashemite-led Kingdom of Iraq. The Ira ...

of Iraq in 1958, Roux returned to Europe and headed the International medical department at

GlaxoWellcome GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, wh ...

, retiring in 1980. In 1964, he published in English ''Ancient Iraq'', a book covering the political, cultural, and socioeconomic history of

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

. In 1985 he published a fuller French work, ''La Mésopotamie'', but the English book's third edition, of 1992, has further enhancements.

Notable works

* ''Ancient Iraq'' (1964), ; 1972, ; 1992, * ''La Mésopotamie'' (1997),

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roux, Georges French Assyriologists 1914 births 1999 deaths University of Paris alumni French expatriates in Iraq