author
Morris Jastrow
1861–1921
A pioneering scholar of the ancient Near East, he helped bring Babylonian and Assyrian religion, literature, and history to a wider English-speaking audience. His work joined serious academic research with a gift for explaining big ideas clearly.
3 Audiobooks
An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic
by Morris Jastrow, Albert Tobias Clay
The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria
by Morris Jastrow
Babylonian-Assyrian Birth-Omens and Their Cultural Significance
by Morris Jastrow
About the author
Born in Warsaw in 1861 and raised in Philadelphia, he became one of the leading American orientalists of his generation. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania and later in Leipzig, Breslau, Paris, and Strasbourg, then returned to Penn, where he taught Semitic languages and also served as a librarian.
His writing focused especially on the civilizations of Babylonia and Assyria, and he published widely on religion, mythology, and the history of the ancient Near East. Readers often remember him for books that opened specialized scholarship to a broader public without losing its seriousness.
He was the son of the noted scholar Marcus Jastrow and remained closely associated with the University of Pennsylvania throughout his career. He died in 1921, leaving behind a body of work that helped shape early American study of the ancient Middle East.