Wilfred G. Lambert

Wilfred G. Lambert
Born	February 26, 1926(1926-02-26) Chudleigh Road, Erdington, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Died	November 9, 2011(2011-11-09) (aged 85)
Citizenship	British
Fields	Assyriology
Institutions	Westminster School, London; University of Toronto; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Birmingham University; École pratique des hautes études, Paris; British Museum
Alma mater	King Edward’s School, Birmingham; Christ's College, Cambridge

Wilfred G. Lambert, FBA (February 26, 1926 – November 9, 2011) was a historian and archaeologist, a specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology.

Lambert was a Christadelphian, and a conscientious objector. From 1944 he worked in a horticultural nursery north of Birmingham in lieu of military service and supervised Italian prisoners of war in their work.^[1] Later, in his spare time, he was editor of one of his church's quarterly magazines.^[2]

Lambert taught and research at the University of Birmingham for thirty years, during which period he made weekly trips to work on deciphering cuneiform tablets in the British Museum. After retirement he worked with the Museum on their Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals Project, dealing with the inscriptions on the seals.^[3] In January 2010 Professor Lambert and Dr Irving Finkel identified pieces from a cuneiform tablet that was inscribed with the same text as the Cyrus Cylinder.^[4]

Lambert was an external consultant for the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary.^[5][6] His work, 'Introduction: the transmission of the literary and scholarly texts', in Cuneiform Texts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art II: Literary and scholastic texts of the first millennium BC, was used as background material for the The Higher Education Academy's project, Knowledge and Power in the Neo-Assyrian Empire.^[7] He was also noted for his new discoveries in relation to the Gilgamesh text.^[8]

Contents 1 Appointments and Memberships 2 Bibliography 3 External links 4 References

Appointments and Memberships

• 1959-64 Associate Professor and Chair of Oriental Seminary, Johns Hopkins University
• 1970-93 Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham.

Lambert was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1971. He is also a presenting member of the International Congress of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology.

Bibliography

This is a partial bibliography:

• Morals in ancient Mesopotamia Jaarbericht 15. Ex Oriente Lux. (1957–58) pp184–196.
• Babylonian Wisdom Literature 1960. (221.849.2 L222)
• A new Babylonian Theogony and Hesiod W. G. Lambert and Peter Walcot (1931–2009). Kadmos 4 (1965) pp64–72.
• Ancient Near Eastern seals in Birmingham Collections (1966)
• Atra-Hasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood by W. G. Lambert, A. R. Millard, and Miguel Civil. (Oxford 1969).
• Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets in the Kouyunjik Collection of the British Museum (Jan. 1992)
• Art of the Eastern World by Geza Fehérvári, W. G. Lambert, Ralph H. Pinder-Wilson, and Marian Wenzel (1996)
• The Qualifications of Babylonian Diviners W.G. Lambert in Festschrift für Rykle Borger (1998).
• Cuneiform Texts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Volume II: Literary and Scholastic Texts of the First Millennium BC edited by Ira Spar and W. G. Lambert. (2005)
• Babylonian Oracle Questions Eisenbrauns, 2007 (ISBN 9781575061368)

In honour of:

• Wisdom, Gods and literature: studies in Assyriology in honour of W.G. Lambert By Wilfred G. Lambert, A. R. George, Irving L. Finkel 2002 462pp

Conference papers:

• Babylonian Siege Equipment. 52e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale. Krieg und Frieden im Alten Vorderasien, Münster, 17–21 July 2006^[9]

Book Reviews:

• Review of Erica Reiner Astral Magic in Babylonia in The Journal of the American Oriental Society 1999
• Review of Charles Penglase Greek Myths and Mesopotamia: Parallels and Influence in the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod. 1997 in The Journal of the American Oriental Society

External links

• Entry for Wilfred Lambert, British Academy
• 'Birmingham-born historian and archaeologist Wilfred Lambert dies', Birmingham Post (01/12/11)

References

1. ^ Birmingham Post obituary
2. ^ Newspaper press directory Volume 120 Ernest Benn Limited - 1971 Endeavour Magazine. l0p quarterly, 50p pa Established 1961. .. Editor: Wilfred Lambert."
3. ^ British Museum Research Projects
4. ^ British Museum
5. ^ Chicago Assyrian Dictionary 2002-2003 report pdf
6. ^ Chicago Assyrian Dictionary 2001-2002 Annual Report
7. ^ The Higher Education Academy: Knowledge and Power - Bibliography
8. ^ What's new in the Gilgamesh Epic? SOAS pdf
9. ^ (International Congress of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology) Munster 2006

Persondata
Name	Lambert, Wilfred G.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1926
Place of birth	Chudleigh Road, Erdington, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Date of death	2011
Place of death