CHARPIN Dominique.
In search of Nineveh, French scholars discover Mesopotamia (1842-1975).
The Beautiful Letters
Regular price
€25,90
| N° d'inventaire | 26102 |
| Format | 14 x 21 |
| Détails | 464 p., some black and white illustrations, paperback with flaps. |
| Publication | Paris, 2022 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782251453583 |
In 1842, French archaeologists began excavations near Mosul to discover Nineveh, the famous biblical city. The undertaking was crowned with success: they unearthed ancient palaces and numerous inscriptions in cuneiform writing. It took years of research and the genius of scholars like Jules Oppert (1825-1905) to decipher these inscriptions and understand the Semitic language in which they were written: Assyrian.
These discoveries make the headlines in scientific news and even spark heated debates, for example when it is necessary to admit that cuneiform characters were created to record a non-Semitic language, Sumerian. Not to mention the earthquake caused by the discovery of an Assyrian version of the story of the Flood, which predates the Bible!
Recalling the context of fierce international competition (notably between the English, Germans and French) and the technical failures linked to the rudimentary conditions of these distant explorations, Dominique Charpin's work recounts the birth and development of a discipline, Assyriology. It shows the scholars at work, according to the inflections of field research, the evolution of the political context and of techniques.
These discoveries make the headlines in scientific news and even spark heated debates, for example when it is necessary to admit that cuneiform characters were created to record a non-Semitic language, Sumerian. Not to mention the earthquake caused by the discovery of an Assyrian version of the story of the Flood, which predates the Bible!
Recalling the context of fierce international competition (notably between the English, Germans and French) and the technical failures linked to the rudimentary conditions of these distant explorations, Dominique Charpin's work recounts the birth and development of a discipline, Assyriology. It shows the scholars at work, according to the inflections of field research, the evolution of the political context and of techniques.
These discoveries make the headlines in scientific news and even spark heated debates, for example when it is necessary to admit that cuneiform characters were created to record a non-Semitic language, Sumerian. Not to mention the earthquake caused by the discovery of an Assyrian version of the story of the Flood, which predates the Bible!
Recalling the context of fierce international competition (notably between the English, Germans and French) and the technical failures linked to the rudimentary conditions of these distant explorations, Dominique Charpin's work recounts the birth and development of a discipline, Assyriology. It shows the scholars at work, according to the inflections of field research, the evolution of the political context and of techniques.