:''To be distinguished from

Heinrich Zimmer Heinrich Robert Zimmer (6 December 1890 – 20 March 1943) was a German Indologist and linguist, as well as a historian of South Asian art, most known for his works, ''Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization'' and ''Philosophies of Indi ...

(1890–1943) German Indologist, and

Heinrich Zimmer (Celticist) Heinrich Friedrich Zimmer (11 December 1851 – 29 July 1910) was a German Celtic studies, Celticist and Indologist. Born to a farming family in Kastellaun in the Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany, he studied ancient languages at University ...

(1851–1910)'' Heinrich Zimmern (14 July 1862, in

Graben In geology, a graben () is a depression (geology), depressed block of the Crust (geology), crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German language, German, meaning 'ditch' or 't ...

– 17 February 1931, in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

) was a German

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 ...

. He was the first professor of Assyriology at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, and considered the founder of the discipline of the history of 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 ...

ern religions in Germany.

Academic career

From 1881 to 1885 he studied

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

and

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 universities of Leipzig and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, receiving his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

for Semitic languages in 1889 at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

. In 1894 he became an associate professor of Assyriology to the faculty of philosophy at Leipzig, where from 1900 to 1929 he served as a full professor.Prof. Dr. phil. Heinrich Zimmern
Professorenkatalog der Universität Leipzig

Published works

* ''Beiträge zur Kenntnis der babylonischen Religion.'' Hinrichs, Leipzig 1896–1901 – Contributions to the understanding of

Babylonian religion Babylonian religion is the religious practice of Babylonia. Babylonia's mythology was largely influenced by its Sumerian counterparts and was written on clay tablets inscribed with the cuneiform script derived from Sumerian cuneiform. The myths ...

. * ''Vergleichende Grammatik der semitischen Sprachen.'' Reuther und Reichard, Berlin 1898 – Comparative grammar of Semitic languages. * ''Biblische und babylonische Urgeschichte'', translated into English and published a
''The Babylonian and the Hebrew Genesis''
(1901). * ''Babylonische Hymnen und Gebete.'' Hinrichs, Leipzig 1905 – Babylonian hymns and prayers. * ''Sumerische Kultlieder aus altbabylonischer Zeit.'' Hinrichs, Leipzig 1912 –

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

ian cult songs from the

Old Babylonian period The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to , and comes after the end of Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The chronology of the first dynasty of Babyloni ...

. * ''Akkadische Fremdwörter als Beweis für babylonischen Kultureinfluß.'' Hinrichs, Leipzig 1915 – Akkadian foreign words as evidence of Babylonian cultural influence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmern, Heinrich German Assyriologists German Indologists German orientalists Academic staff of Leipzig University People from Karlsruhe (district) 1862 births 1931 deaths