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Knut Tallqvist

Knut Leonard Tallqvist
Born March 16, 1865, Kirkkonnummi. Died 16 August 1949, Kirkkonummi

BA 1887 (Oriental literature), MA 1890, licentiate 1890 (Assyriology), PhD 1894, Imperial Alexander University
Study and research trips to, inter alia, Germany 1889–90, eastern Mediterranean, Italy, France and Germany 1893–95

Head of the Department of Historical Linguistics 1904–35, deacon of the Faculty of Arts 1920-30, Imperial Alexander University – University of Helsinki
Acting professor of oriental literature 1897, professor 1899–1933, acting professor 1934-35, Imperial Alexander University – University of Helsinki
Docent in Assyriology and Semitic languages, Imperial Alexander University
Teacher of Hebrew 1890-1891, Imperial Alexander University

Founder of the Finnish Oriental Society, chairman 1917–49
Member of the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters 1902, Chairman 1912–13

Awards
Honorary member of the American Oriental Society 1947
Honorary member of the Finno-Ugrian Society 1937
Honorary doctor of theology, Lund University 1918
Honorary member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1910

Photo: National Board of Antiquities
Written by Tomas Sjöblom
Translated by Matthew Billington

From Assyrian Witchcraft to the Epic of Gilgamesh

Knut Tallqvist, the youngest son of a parson from an old clerical family, entered the Imperial Alexander University in 1883 to study Oriental languages. Much of his studying was done independently, as his professor, Ernst August Strandman, was often absent due to illness. When Tallqvist completed his bachelor’s degree in 1887, he travelled to Germany to study.

While studying in Leipzig and Berlin between 1889 and 1890, he grew increasingly fascinated by Assyriology, which became his primary field of research. His doctoral dissertation, Die Sprache der Contracte Nabû-nâ’ids (555–538 v. Chr.) mit Berücksichtigung der Contracte Nebukadrezars und Cyrus (1890), was the first of its kind in Finland. Tallqvist was appointed docent in Assyriology and Semitic Languages in 1891.

Knut Tallqvist’s doctoral dissertation.

Tallqvist’s academic output in the field of Assyriology was notable both in quantity and quality. For instance, his early edition and commentary of the Maqlû incantation (1892) has been an invaluable resource to later researchers of both the genre and Mesopotamian beliefs. His reference work on Assyrian names, which was published in 1914, was also a major undertaking, and a project to replace it was only launched in the mid-1990s.

Tallqvist was also the first significant Finnish populariser of Assyriology. One of the ways he did this was by releasing the latest research results through a series of introductory publications by the Finnish Oriental Society, which he had founded. Tallqvist also wrote about the life and travels of Georg August Wallin in the Arabian Peninsula, and published his letters and journals.

As a professor, Tallqvist was known as a stern scholar with zero tolerance for nonsense—in particular when it came to science. He was also a passionate gardener, a hobby he also practised in the French garden of Leipzig University when he was a student there.

Among Tallqvist’s final contributions, was the 1945 Swedish language translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh. He also began work on the first Finnish translation of the Quran. The project was completed by his students Armas Salonen and Jussi Aro in 1957.

In the 30 or more years that Knut Tallqvist served as a professor, he founded, in Helsinki, the only department of Assyriology in the Nordic region. He was a leading authority in his field, and was accordingly granted honorary membership of the prestigious British and American Oriental Societies.

A sample from “Old Assyrian Law,” an English translation by Knut Tallqvist of an old Assyrian legal text.

Sources

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