Assyriologie

Assyriology is the scholarly study of the languages, history, and cultures of ancient Mesopotamia, especially through the decipherment and analysis of cuneiform inscriptions. The field covers Sumerian, Akkadian (including Assyrian and Babylonian), and related languages, and it extends from the late 4th millennium BCE to the late antique period. Researchers combine philology, archaeology, art history, and historiography to reconstruct political history, social structures, religion, literature, law, and daily life.

Core materials include clay tablets and stone inscriptions excavated from sites such as Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Babylon, Assur, and Nineveh. Primary literary works include the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Enuma Elish, and mythological and administrative texts; legal codes such as the Code of Hammurabi form keys for legal history.

The methods involve deciphering cuneiform signs, edition and translation of texts, textual criticism, and comparative linguistics, as well as archaeology and the study of material culture.

The discipline emerged in the 19th century through the decipherment of cuneiform by scholars such as Henry Rawlinson and Eugène Oppert, with significant contributions by famous philologists, then expanded through museum collections and excavations in Mesopotamia. Today Assyriology is an interdisciplinary field housed in universities and research institutes worldwide, with collaborations across archaeology, history, linguistics, and computer science for digital humanities and databases.

Scholarly output includes critical editions, commentaries, dictionaries, and corpora of texts. Assyriology provides essential evidence for the history of Mesopotamia, ancient Near Eastern interactions, the development of writing, and the cultural foundations of later civilizations.