Edgar James Banks

Born in Sunderland, Massachusetts, in 1866, Edgar James Banks was an American diplomat, antiquarian, novelist, and lecturer. He studied at Harvard and later earned a doctorate in Assyriology at the University of Breslau, then served as American consul in Baghdad in the late 1890s.

Banks became closely associated with Mesopotamia through his archaeological work and his energetic efforts to bring the ancient Near East to a wider public. He wrote both nonfiction and fiction, drawing on his travels, excavations, and knowledge of Babylonian history, and later built a public reputation as a speaker and popularizer of the ancient world.

He died in 1945. Modern accounts often remember him as a colorful, larger-than-life figure whose career crossed scholarship, diplomacy, collecting, and entertainment.