author
H. V. (Hermann Vollrat) Hilprecht
1859–1925
A pioneering Assyriologist and archaeologist, he helped bring the ancient world of Mesopotamia to a wider public through scholarship, teaching, and museum work. His career was closely tied to the University of Pennsylvania and the famous excavations at Nippur.
1 Audiobook
Die Ausgrabungen der Universität von Pennsylvania im Bêl-Tempel zu Nippur
by H. V. (Hermann Vollrat) Hilprecht
About the author
Born in Prussia in 1859, Hilprecht studied at the University of Leipzig and earned his doctorate there before moving to the United States in the 1880s. He became an important early scholar of Assyriology, with a special reputation for work on cuneiform texts and the history of ancient Babylonia.
At the University of Pennsylvania, he served as a professor and as curator of the museum's Babylonian collections. He was deeply involved with the university's expeditions to Nippur in present-day Iraq, and his publications helped introduce many readers to the discoveries coming out of those excavations.
Hilprecht's career also included public scholarly disputes, but his lasting place in history rests on his role in building Near Eastern studies in America. He died in Philadelphia in 1925.