H. W. F. Saggs

H. W. F. Saggs
Born December 2, 1920
Died August 31, 2005
Citizenship British
Nationality English
Fields Assyriology
Institutions University College, Cardiff
Alma mater School of Oriental and African Studies
Doctoral advisor Sidney Smith
Known for Nimrud Letters

Henry William Frederick Saggs (1920–2005) was an English classicist and orientalist.

Early life and education

Saggs was born in East Anglia on December 2, 1920. He attended Clacton County High School, following which he went to King's College London where he studied theology, graduating in 1942.[1]

Saggs fought in the Second World War with the Fleet Air Arm. He suffered a broken back following an air accident in 1944. His brother, Arthur Roy Saggs, a sergeant in the RAF, died on January 4, 1945 in South Africa on a training flight, aged 20.

In 1946, he married his wife Joan Butterworth. They had four daughters.[1]

He began his Assyriological studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, under Sidney Smith after the war. In 1952, he joined Max Mallowan's excavation at Nimrud under the aegis of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq.[2]

Saggs was awarded his PhD degree in 1953 for his dissertation titled A study of city administration in Assyria and Babylonia in the period 705 to 539 B.C.[3] He joined SOAS as a Lecturer in Akkadian.[4]

Career

Saggs has been described as "one of the outstanding Assyriologists of his generation".[4] His life's work, encouraged by Max Mallowan, was the publication of 243 letters found at the Nimrud archive of cuneiform tablets. These were released as a series of articles in the journal Iraq and the book The Nimrud Letters 1952 (Cuneiform Texts from Nimrud V).[2]

In 1965, Saggs worked at Tell al-Rimah in northern Iraq, and published a business archive of tablets dating from Middle Assyrian.[1]

In 1966, Saggs was invited to take the Chair of Semitic Languages in University College, Cardiff. He served as Professor there from 1966 to 1983. Here he established good relations with Iraq's universities, inviting and training a series of Iraqi Assyriologists who then became influential in their own country. He also expanded Cardiff's specialisations to Ugaritic and Aramaic studies.[4]

Saggs taught at Baghdad University in 1956-57, and later at Mosul University. He published the Anzu tablet of Sherifkhan with his former student Amir Suleiman, who was head of the department of arts at Mosul.[1]

Later life

Following his retirement, Saggs remained active both academically and in his pursuit of Old Testament studies, becoming a lay reader at Roydon, near Harlow. He published works popularising Assyriology and the history of the ancient Near East.[1]

Saggs died on August 31, 2005.[3]

Honours

Saggs was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Asiatic Society.[1]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Postgate, Nicholas (October 6, 2005). "Harry Saggs". The Guardian. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Alan, Millard (2005). "Professor H.W.F. Saggs, BD, MTh, MA, PhD, FSA (1920-2005)" (PDF). Iraq 67 (02): vi.
  3. 1 2 Postgate, Nicholas (November 2005). "Professor H.W.F. Saggs, FSA, FRAS 1920-2005" (PDF). Newsletter (British School of Archaeology in Iraq) (16): 4–5.
  4. 1 2 3 Healey, John F. (2005-12-26). "Professor H W F Saggs". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-02-24.

Other links

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