Hermann Volrath Hilprecht

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hermann Volrath Hilprecht (born July 28, 1859 in Hohenerxleben , † March 19, 1925 in Philadelphia , USA ) was a German-American archaeologist and Assyriologist. Hilprecht is best known for the Hilprecht Collection of Near Eastern Antiquities that emerged from his estate .

Life

Hilprecht was born in Hohenerxleben in 1859. After attending the Rector School in Hoym , he passed his Abitur at the Herzoglichen Carls-Gymnasium in Bernburg in 1880 and studied theology , oriental languages and jurisprudence at the University of Leipzig . In 1883 he joined the Leipzig and later the Marburg Wingolf . In 1883 he wrote his doctorate on the charter of King Nebuchadnezzar I of Babylon . In 1885 he received the large Luther grant in Worms. A year later he married Ida Haufe and moved to Philadelphia , where he became a professor of Assyriology and Ethiopiology at the University of Pennsylvania . He became a member of the Lutheran General Council and the Ministry of the Synod of Pennsylvania. In 1886 he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society .

From 1887 Hilprecht was secretary of the newly established Babylonian Exploration Fund and took part in the first Nippur expedition in the following two years ; Regular stays in Constantinople followed, where he a. a. was friends with Osman Hamdi Bey and helped build the museum there . In 1890 the 2nd and 1893-1896 in the 3rd Nippur Expedition, he was not on site, instead he was a member of the accompanying scientific committee in Pennsylvania. The 4th Nippur expedition in 1899/1900, during which the temple library was discovered, he led on site from March to May. The nippur cubit discovered there represents the oldest tangible measure; the map of Nippur discovered there by John Henry Haynes and Hilprecht is the oldest surviving map.

Hilprecht's wife Ida died in Jena in 1902, and in the following year he married Salli (e) Robinson (née Crozer).

In 1902, Friedrich Delitzsch's lecture “Babel and Bible” triggered the Babel-Bible Controversy , as a result of which Hilprecht took a position against Delitzsch with his lectures. In 1905 the "Peters-Hilprecht controversy" came about , because many of the archaeologists from the Nippur expeditions, JP Peters (leader of the 1st and 2nd Nippur expeditions), openly criticized Hilprecht. In her opinion, Hilprecht was too much of an individual who claimed credit for the joint excavation successes, especially for the temple library. In 1909 Hilprecht's colleagues, friends and admirers published a commemorative publication for the 25th anniversary of his doctorate under the title “Studies in Assyriology and Archeology dedicated to Hermann V. Hilprecht” .

After he was fired in Philadelphia in the summer of 1910 with effect from January 1, 1911, Hilprecht withdrew into private life, which he spent in Germany and the USA until his death in 1925.

Hilprecht Collection

In accordance with Hilprecht's last will, his considerable private collection of found objects from Nippur, mainly cuneiform texts , was handed over to the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena and in memory of his first wife "Frau Professor Hilprecht Collection of Babylonian Antiquities" (today "Hilprecht Collection of Near Eastern Antiquities" ) named. Today it comprises around 3300 exhibits, including around 3000 cuneiform texts from almost all eras and text genres from a period of almost 3000 years.

Publications

  • Charter of Nebuchadnezzar I, King of Babylonia, c. 1130 BC BC, published for the first time, paraphrased and translated , Pries, Leipzig 1883, also dissertation at the University of Leipzig 1883
  • Old Babylonian Inscriptions, Chiefly from Nippur , 1 (Babylonian Expedition, Series A, Vol. I / 1) (1893)
  • Assyriaca, A Gleanings in the Field of Assyriology , Part I (1894)
  • Old Babylonian Inscriptions, Chiefly from Nippur , 2 (Babylonian Expedition, Series A, Vol. I / 2) (1896)
  • Hilprecht - Clay, Business Documents of Murashû Sons of Nippur, Dated in the Reign of Artaxerxes I (Babylonian Expedition, Series A, Vol.IX ) (1898)
  • Hilprecht (ed.) - Benzinger - Hommel - Steindorff, Explorations in the Bible Lands During the 19th Century (1903)
  • The excavations of the University of Pennsylvania in the Bêl Temple at Nippur , Hinrichs, Leipzig 1903
  • The Excavations in Assyria and Babylonia (Babylonian Expeditions, Series D, Vol. I), Holman, Philadelphia 1904
    • German: The excavations in Assyria and Babylonia, 1st part: Until the appearance of de Sarzecs
  • Mathematical, Metrological and Chronological Texts from the Temple Library of Nippur (Babylonian Expedition, Series A, Vol. XX / 1), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 1906
  • The so-called Peters-Hilprecht Controversy. Submitted to the Public by H. v. Hilprecht , Holman, Philadelphia 1908
  • The Earliest Version of the Babylonian Deluge Story and the Temple Library of Nippur , The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania, Series D: Research and Treatises, Vol. 5, Fasc. 1, Philadelphia 1910
    • German: The new find on the history of the Flood from the temple library of Nippur , Hinrichs, Leipzig 1910

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Member History: Hermann V. Hilprecht. American Philosophical Society, accessed September 30, 2018 .