Talbot’s Tools
Notizbucher als Denklabor eines viktorianischen Keilschriftforschers
by Nele Diekmann
Hardback (Published)
(June 2017)
ISBN: 9783935012218
6.85 x 9.65 inches
Price: $44.00
In stock
Much has been written about the decipherment, in the course of the 19th century, of ancient systems of writing, for instance the Egyptian hieroglyphs or the Assyrian-Babylonian cuneiform script. But rarely do we learn more about the details of the researchers’ methods when they were trying to solve an equation with many unknown quantities. How exactly did they proceed on their way to an understanding of the structure and meaning of the unknown signs? And which instruments were available towards the solution of such complex intellectual riddles? The publication is concerned with just that question. What was the role in the research process of the numerous notebooks which the Victorian scholar William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) left behind? They provide an opportunity to observe how thinking and writing supplement each other and interact to produce results on the page that could not possibly have been reached just “in the mind”. In his notebooks Talbot categorizes, orders, experiments and corrects; the publication aims at analysing those partially superimposed processes and elucidate them with many examples. In addition to matters of script research, in general, the volume gives a detailed overview over the early history of cuneiform research: it begins with the first reports by travellers to the Middle East, continues with the successful decipherments by Henry Rawlinson (1810-1895) and Edward Hincks (1792-1866) and even includes the power and information policies among scholarly circles of the Victorian society. The book thus touches upon several disciplines: it treats to the same degree questions of the theory of script, the history of science and of Ancient Near Eastern Studies.
- By (author) Nele Diekmann
Other Titles in this Series
Entre les fleuves–I
Untersuchungen zur historischen Geographie Obermesopotamiens im 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr.
Volume 20
Normes et pratiques–L’homme, la mesure et l’ecriture en Mesopotamie
I. Les mesures de capacite et de poids en Syrie Ancienne, d'Ebla a Emar.
Volume 21
Methoden zur Restaurierung von ungebrannten und gebrannten Keilschrifttafeln
Gestern und Heute.
Volume 22
Sprachwissenschaftliche und kulturhistorische Reflexionen
Festschrift zu Ehren von Jörg Klinger
Volume 31
Similar Books
Boğazköy Tablets in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Bo 9032–Bo 9097)
Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesinde Bulunan Boğazköy Tabletleri (Bo 9032–Bo 9097)
Volume 4
Connecting the Dots: Counting, Writing, and the Beginnings of Civilization
The Secret Lives of Clay Tokens: A Memoir
Curating the Prehistoric Past
Studies on West Asian Archaeology and Beyond in Honour of Yoshihiro Nishiaki
Diagnostic Techniques in Public Health
Analytical and Chemometric Approaches in Disease Detection and Management
Exploring Gender Dynamics across the Ancient Near East
Collected Essays of Gender and Methodology in the Ancient Near East (GeMANE) 4 and 5
Volume 7
Ḫattušaš utnē išḫameški
Hittite and Other Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Piotr Taracha on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday
