R. Campbell Thompson
British Assyriologist, excavator of Nineveh, translator of Gilgamesh
- Born
- 1876
- Died
- 1941, near Moulsford, Berkshire
- Known for
- Excavations at Nineveh; verse translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh (1928, edition 1930)
- Position
- Shillito Reader in Assyriology, Oxford (1937–1941)
Assyriologist who dug at Nineveh, employed T. E. Lawrence, and published an English Epic of Gilgamesh still read online.
What is R. Campbell Thompson known for?
Reginald Campbell Thompson was a British archaeologist and Assyriologist. He excavated at Nineveh, the Assyrian capital where the library of Ashurbanipal had held the best-known tablets of the Gilgamesh epic, and found remains of the temple of Nabu there in 1904. In 1910 he took on the young T. E. Lawrence as a pottery specialist, and in 1931 he hosted Agatha Christie and Max Mallowan at his Nineveh dig.
He published widely on Assyrian medicine, chemistry and geology as well as on cuneiform texts. His English verse translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh appeared in 1928, followed by an edition of the cuneiform text in 1930. It is now public domain and is the free translation most often found online, though it predates many tablet discoveries.
Thompson became Shillito Reader in Assyriology at Oxford in 1937. He died in 1941 while on Home Guard patrol on the Thames.
The site's summary of the Gilgamesh epic cites Thompson's 1928 translation as the public-domain text.
Sources
- Wikipedia, 'Reginald Campbell Thompson'Reference
- Internet Sacred Text Archive, 'The Epic of Gilgamish', tr. R. Campbell ThompsonPrimary text
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