Ephraim Avigdor Speiser

Ephraim Avigdor Speiser (January 24, 1902–June 15, 1965) was a Polish-born American Assyriologist. He discovered the ancient site of Tepe Gawra in 1927 and supervised its excavation between 1931 and 1938.

Pre-war career

He was born in Skalat, Galicia, (then in Austrian Poland, now Ukraine) and went to school in Lwow. In 1920, at the age of 18, he emigrated to the United States, eventually becoming a US citizen in 1926.He studied at the University of Pennsylvania receiving his M.A. in 1923, then his Ph.D. from Dropsie College in Philadelphia in 1924. [http://www.archives.upenn.edu/faids/upt/upt50/speiserea.html] University of Pennsylvania Archives and Records Center] . From 1924 to 1926 he was Harrison Research Fellow in Semitics at the University of Pennsylvania. [http://cdliwiki.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/doku.php/speiser_ephraim_avigdor Speiser, Ephraim Avigdor] , UCLA Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative]

In 1926, Speiser won a Guggenheim Fellowship to study remains of the ancient Mitanni and Hurrians in northern Mesopotamia. While there in 1927 he discovered the Tepe Gawra (or "Great Mound"), one of the world's earliest cradles of civilization.In 1928 the was appointed assistant professor of Semitics at the University of Pennsylvania, and full professor in 1931.He was field director of the Joint Excavation of the ASOR and the University Museum, 1930-1932, 1936-1937, undertaking excavations in Tepe Gawra and Tell Billa.

During World War II, Speiser was chief of the Office of Strategic Services' Near East Section of the Research and Analysis Branch in Washington.

Post-war

After the war he returned to the University of Pennsylvania, where he was Chairman of the Department of Oriental Studies from 1947 until his death in 1965. He was also appointed Ellis Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literatures there in 1954

He translated and wrote extensive commentary for the volume on Genesis in the Anchor Bible Series and was one of the editors of the Torah in the New Jewish Publication Society of America Version of the Old Testament.

Selected Works

*cite book |title=Mesopotamian Origins: the Basic Population of the Near East |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1930 |publisher= University of Pennsylvania Press |location= Philadelphia |isbn= |pages=
*cite book |title= New Kirkuk Documents relating to Family Laws |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= 1930|publisher= |location= New Haven|isbn= |pages=
*cite book |title=Excavations at Tepe Gawra |volume=1|last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= 1935|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn= |pages=
*cite book |title=One Hundred New Selected Nuzi Texts |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors=with Robert H Pfeiffer|year= 1936|publisher= |location= |isbn= |pages=
*cite book |title= Studies in the History of Science|last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1941 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn= |pages=
*cite book |title=Introduction to Hurrian |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= 1941|publisher=Dows Nies. |location=New Haven |isbn= |pages=
*cite book |title=The United States and the Near East |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= 1947|publisher= Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge (MA) |isbn= |pages=

*cite encyclopedia |last= |first= |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor=James B. Pritchard |encyclopedia=Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament |title=Akkadian Myths and Epics |url= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |date=1955 |year= |month= |publisher=Princeton University Press |volume= |location= |id= |isbn= |doi= |pages= |quote=
*cite book |title=Genesis: Introduction, Translation and Notes (The Anchor Bible) |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1964 |publisher=Doubleday |location=New York |isbn= |pages=
*cite book |title=At the Dawn of Civilization |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1964 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location= |isbn= |pages=
*cite book |title=Oriental and Biblical Studies: Collected Writings of E. A. Speiser |last= Finkelstein|first= J. J.|authorlink= |coauthors=Moshe Greenberg |year= 1967|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location= |isbn= |pages=

References