James Kinnier Wilson Explained

James Vincent Kinnier Wilson (27 November 1921 – 22 December 2022) was a British Assyriologist. He was Eric Yarrow Lecturer, from 1955 until 1989,^[1] and Emeritus Fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge.^[2]

Life and career

Kinnier Wilson was born in Marylebone, London on 27 November 1921.^[3] The youngest son of the neurologist Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson,^[4] he combined a skill in reconstructing Mesopotamian legends and epics with an enduring interest in the study of the organic and mental diseases of ancient Mesopotamia.

Kinnier Wilson lived in Cambridge.^[5] He last published works in 2016.^[6]

The Ancient India and Iran Trust held a 100th birthday celebration for Wilson on 26 November 2021.^[7] He died on 22 December 2022, at the age of 101.^{[8] [9]}

University career

• 1946: Admitted to Christ Church, Oxford
• 1949: BA (Oxon), in (Classical) Hebrew and Assyriology. 1952, MA
• 1950: Appointed Lecturer in Assyriology, Durham University
• 1951–52: Research year at The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
• 1953–55: Lecturer and (one year) Asst. Prof., University College, Toronto
• 1955–89: Appointed Eric Yarrow Lecturer in Assyriology, University of Cambridge
• 1965–67: Chairman, Faculty of Oriental Studies, Cambridge

Publications

• The Nimrud Wine Lists: A study of men and administration at the Assyrian capital in the Eighth Century BC (The British School of Archaeology in Iraq, London, 1972)
• Indo-Sumerian: A new approach to the problems of the Indus Script (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1974)
• The Rebel Lands: An investigation into the Origins of Early Mesopotamian Mythology (Cambridge University Press, 1979)
• The Legend of Etana: A new edition (Aris and Phillips, Warminster, 1985)
• Studia Etanaica: new texts and discussions, Alter Orient und Altes Testament, Band 338 (Ugarit-Verlag, Münster, 2007)
• Book: The Wisdom and the Beauty: A Selection of Short Passages from the Qur'an. James Kinnier Wilson. Shepheard-Walwyn. 2007. 978-0-85683-247-5 .
• Towards Novaluation: God's Work and Ours at the End of the Age (Janus Publishing Company, 2010)

Selected chapters and articles

• "An Introduction to Babylonian Psychiatry", The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Assyriological Studies, No. 16, Chicago, pp. 289–298, 1965
• "Organic diseases of Ancient Mesopotamia", and "Mental diseases of Ancient Mesopotamia", in D Brothwell and A T Sandison, eds., Diseases in Antiquity: a Survey of the Diseases, injuries and Surgery of Early Populations, (Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois), Chaps. 15 and 56, 1967
• "Medicine in the Land and the Times of the Old Testament", in Studies-in the period of David and Solomon and other Essays, ed. Tomo Ishida (Yamakawa-Shuppansha, Tokyo), pp. 339–365, 1982
• "The 'Seven Cities' of the Indus Script: a Restatement", South Asian Studies, 12, pp. 99–104, 1996
• “'On the Ud-shu-bala [Weather change] at Ur towards the End of the Third Millennium BC", Iraq LXVII/2, pp. 47–60, 2005
• "On Stroke and Facial Palsy in Babylonian Texts" (with E. H. Reynolds), in Disease in Babylonia. ed. I.L. Finkel and M.J. Geller (Brill, Leiden), pp. 67–99, 2007

Media

• Narrator in the short film, "The Poor Man of Nippur — World's first film in Babylonian" produced by the University of Cambridge Department of Archaeology (2018)^[10]

Notes and References

1. http://www.ane.arch.cam.ac.uk/people/research.html{{full citation needed|date=September 2018}}
2. http://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/fellows/emeritus/open/?i=3550{{full citation needed|date=September 2018}}
3. https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8782&h=36297025&tid=&pid=&queryId=43e0d1106110df4b1ba5e83b45c5f8f6&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Dqh406&_phstart=successSource James V. Kinnier-Wilson in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007
4. 10.1136/jnnp.2003.029462 . The Kinnier Wilson library in Edinburgh . Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry . 75 . 6 . 933–935 . 2004 . Jellinek . E H . 15146021 . 1739052 .
5. https://worldneurologyonline.com/article/neurology-and-psychiatry-in-babylon/ Babylonians described epilepsy, stroke, psychoses, depression, anxiety
6. https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/James-V-Kinnier-Wilson-11302631 Researchgate entry on Kinnier Wilson
7. Web site: Celebrating James Kinnier Wilson's 100th Birthday . Ancient India & Iran Trust Cambridge . 31 December 2022 . 13 December 2021.
8. Web site: Sad at the recent passing of Cambridge Assyriologist James Kinnier Wilson, aged 101. . Peter J. Williams on Twitter . 31 December 2022.
9. Web site: James Vincent Kinnier-Wilson . In Your Area . 26 February 2023.
10. Web site: The Poor Man of Nippur - World's first film in Babylonian . . 26 November 2018 .