James Kinnier Wilson

James Vincent Kinnier Wilson (27 November 1921 – 22 December 2022) was a British Assyriologist. He was Eric Yarrow Lecturer, from 1955 until 1989,[1] and Emeritus Fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge.[2]

Life and career

Kinnier Wilson was born in Marylebone, London on 27 November 1921.[3] The youngest son of the neurologist Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson,[4] he combined a skill in reconstructing Mesopotamian legends and epics with an enduring interest in the study of the organic and mental diseases of ancient Mesopotamia.

Kinnier Wilson lived in Cambridge.[5] He last published works in 2016.[6]

The Ancient India and Iran Trust held a 100th birthday celebration for Wilson on 26 November 2021.[7] He died on 22 December 2022, at the age of 101.[8][9]

University career

  • 1946: Admitted to Christ Church, Oxford
  • 1949: BA (Oxon), in (Classical) Hebrew and Assyriology. 1952, MA
  • 1950: Appointed Lecturer in Assyriology, Durham University
  • 1951–52: Research year at The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
  • 1953–55: Lecturer and (one year) Asst. Prof., University College, Toronto
  • 1955–89: Appointed Eric Yarrow Lecturer in Assyriology, University of Cambridge
  • 1965–67: Chairman, Faculty of Oriental Studies, Cambridge

Publications

  • The Nimrud Wine Lists: A study of men and administration at the Assyrian capital in the Eighth Century BC (The British School of Archaeology in Iraq, London, 1972)
  • Indo-Sumerian: A new approach to the problems of the Indus Script (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1974)
  • The Rebel Lands: An investigation into the Origins of Early Mesopotamian Mythology (Cambridge University Press, 1979)
  • The Legend of Etana: A new edition (Aris and Phillips, Warminster, 1985)
  • Studia Etanaica: new texts and discussions, Alter Orient und Altes Testament, Band 338 (Ugarit-Verlag, Münster, 2007)
  • James Kinnier Wilson, ed. (2007). The Wisdom and the Beauty: A Selection of Short Passages from the Qur'an. Shepheard-Walwyn. ISBN 978-0-85683-247-5.
  • Towards Novaluation: God's Work and Ours at the End of the Age (Janus Publishing Company, 2010)

Selected chapters and articles

  • "An Introduction to Babylonian Psychiatry", The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Assyriological Studies, No. 16, Chicago, pp. 289–298, 1965
  • "Organic diseases of Ancient Mesopotamia", and "Mental diseases of Ancient Mesopotamia", in D Brothwell and A T Sandison, eds., Diseases in Antiquity: a Survey of the Diseases, injuries and Surgery of Early Populations, (Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois), Chaps. 15 and 56, 1967
  • "Medicine in the Land and the Times of the Old Testament", in Studies-in the period of David and Solomon and other Essays, ed. Tomo Ishida (Yamakawa-Shuppansha, Tokyo), pp. 339–365, 1982
  • "The 'Seven Cities' of the Indus Script: a Restatement", South Asian Studies, 12, pp. 99–104, 1996
  • “'On the Ud-shu-bala [Weather change] at Ur towards the End of the Third Millennium BC", Iraq LXVII/2, pp. 47–60, 2005
  • "On Stroke and Facial Palsy in Babylonian Texts" (with E. H. Reynolds), in Disease in Babylonia. ed. I.L. Finkel and M.J. Geller (Brill, Leiden), pp. 67–99, 2007

Media

  • Narrator in the short film, "The Poor Man of Nippur — World's first film in Babylonian" produced by the University of Cambridge Department of Archaeology (2018)[10]

References

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)[full citation needed]
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)[full citation needed]
  3. ^ James V. Kinnier-Wilson in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007
  4. ^ Jellinek, E H (2004). "The Kinnier Wilson library in Edinburgh". Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. 75 (6): 933–935. doi:10.1136/jnnp.2003.029462. PMC 1739052. PMID 15146021.
  5. ^ Babylonians described epilepsy, stroke, psychoses, depression, anxiety
  6. ^ Researchgate entry on Kinnier Wilson
  7. ^ "Celebrating James Kinnier Wilson's 100th Birthday". Ancient India & Iran Trust Cambridge. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  8. ^ "Sad at the recent passing of Cambridge Assyriologist James Kinnier Wilson, aged 101". Peter J. Williams on Twitter. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  9. ^ "James Vincent Kinnier-Wilson". In Your Area. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  10. ^ "The Poor Man of Nippur - World's first film in Babylonian". YouTube. 26 November 2018.