Father Jean-Vincent Scheil (born 10 June 1858,

Kœnigsmacker Kœnigsmacker (; Lorraine Franconian: ''Maacher''/''Kinneksmaacher''; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Kœnigsmacker was the birthplac ...

– died 21 September 1940, Paris) was a French Dominican scholar and

Assyriologist 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 ...

. He is credited as the discoverer of the Code of Hammurabi in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

. In 1911 he came into possession of the

Scheil dynastic tablet The Scheil dynastic tablet is an ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform text containing a variant form of the ''Sumerian King List''. Discovery The tablet came into possession of the Assyriologist Jean-Vincent Scheil in 1911, having bought it from a pr ...

and first translated it. After being ordained in 1887, he took courses in

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

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, southe ...

at the ''

École des Hautes Études École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

'', and was a student at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ...

, where he was a pupil of

Julius Oppert Julius (Jules) Oppert (9 July 1825 – 21 August 1905) was a French-German Assyriologist, born in Hamburg of Jewish parents. Career After studying at Heidelberg, Bonn and Berlin, he graduated at Kiel in 1847, and the next year went to France, wh ...

. In 1890/91 as a member of the French Archaeological Mission of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

, he took part in excavations at Thebes.Institut national d'histoire de l'art
biography In 1892 he conducted excavations near

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

for the Ottoman Imperial Museum, followed by work in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

, where he was tasked with classifying and drafting a catalog of Assyrian,

Chaldea Chaldea () was a small country that existed between the late 10th or early 9th and mid-6th centuries BCE, after which the country and its people were absorbed and assimilated into the indigenous population of Babylonia. Semitic-speaking, it was ...

n and Egyptian antiquities of the museum.Encyclopaedia Iranica
biography In 1895 he became a lecturer at the ''École Pratique des Hautes Études'', where in 1908 he was named its director. In 1908 he also became a member of the ''

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigr ...

''. In 1923 he became an officer of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

. In 1901 he discovered Hammurabi's Law Code at

Susa Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo-Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...

, of which, he subsequently translated and published the 250 articles of the stele containing approximately 3600 lines; ''La loi de Hammourabi (vers 2000 av. J.-C.)'', (1904).

Selected works

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

, King of Assyria. * ''Une saison de fouilles à Sippar'', 1902 – A season of excavations at

Sippar Sippar (Sumerian: , Zimbir) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its '' tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, s ...

. * ''La loi de Hammourabi (vers 2000 av. J.-C.)'', 1904 – The law of

Hammurabi Hammurabi (Akkadian: ; ) was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-state ...

, circa 2000 BC. * ''Annales de Tukulti Ninip II, roi d'Assyrie 889-884'', 1909 (with Joseph Étienne Gautier) – Annals of Tukulti Ninip II. * ''Le prisme S d'Assaraddon, roi d'Assyrie 681-668'', 1914 – The prism of

Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , also , meaning "Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his ...

. * ''Recueil de lois assyriennes : texte assyrien en transcription avec traduction française et index'', 1921 – Collection of

Assyrian law Assyrian law, also known as the Middle Assyrian Laws (MAL) or the Code of the Assyrians, was an ancient legal code developed between 1450 and 1250 BCE in the Middle Assyrian Empire. (E-book edition) It was very similar to Sumerian and Babylonian la ...

s. * ''Inscriptions des Achéménides à Suse'', 1929 – Inscription of the

Achaemenids The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...

at Susa.OCLC Classify
published works

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheil 1858 births 1940 deaths 19th-century archaeologists 20th-century French archaeologists French Assyriologists French Egyptologists École pratique des hautes études alumni Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres French Dominicans People from Moselle (department) Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Sippar