Simo Kaarlo Antero Parpola (born 4 July 1943) is a Finnish Assyriologist specializing in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Professor emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki (retired fall 2009).
Simo Parpola
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Simo Parpola in 1993
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| Born | Simo Kaarlo Antero Parpola (1943-07-04) 4 July 1943 (age 80) |
| Nationality | Finnish |
| Occupation | Assyriologist |
| Title | Extraordinary Professor of Assyriology |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Assyriology |
| Institutions | University of Helsinki (retired) |
Simo Parpola studied Assyriology, Classics and Semitic Philology at the University of Helsinki, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the British Museum in 1961–1968. He completed his PhD in Helsinki and began his academic career as wissenschaftlicher Assistant of Karlheinz Deller at the Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orients[2] of the University of Heidelberg in 1969. Between 1973 and 1976 he was Docent of Assyriology and Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki, and from 1977 to 1979 Associate Professor of Assyriology with tenure at the Oriental Institute[3] of the University of Chicago. He was appointed Extraordinary Professor of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki in 1978 and has directed the University's Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project[4] since 1986. He taught at the University of Padua as Visiting Professor in Spring 1995, and worked as Research Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University[5] in 1999. He contributed to the compilation of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary from 1982 until its completion in 2010 and partook in the Ziyaret Tepe archaeological expedition as Senior Epigraphist in 2001–2006. Among Simo Parpola's students of Assyriology were Amar Annus, Sanna Aro, Grant Frame, Mikko Luukko, Raija Mattila, and Saana Svärd.[6][7]
The main focus of Parpola's research has been on the study of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in all its aspects (language, literature, history, geography, society, religion, royal ideology and sciences), but he has also contributed to the study of the Indus script, Sumerian language, Jewish mysticism and Assyrian identity in post-empire times, among others. In 1986 he initiated a long-term international research project to edit Neo-Assyrian sources (The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project),[8] which has resulted in a 19-volume series of standard text editions (State Archives of Assyria)[9] and in a digital corpus of texts written in the Neo-Assyrian language. The published series contains cuneiform texts, transcriptions and translations of first hand records written by civil servants, professionals and administrators and are considered to be an important source accessible to scholars of many disciplines. In 1998, Parpola started the Melammu Project, an interdisciplinary project that investigates the continuity, transformation and diffusion of Mesopotamian culture in the classical world and thereafter.
Parpola, in a study published in 2004 entitled: Mount Nisir and the Foundations of the Assyrian Church, argues that the Christian church was "..built on foundations laid by Assyria..", and that "..the continuity and survival of Assyrian ideas in Christianity must be taken seriously.". He comes to this conclusion by assessing what he considers to be parallels in both Christianity and the ancient Mesopotamian religion, and states that Assyriologists generally avoid and reject the belief structure and central components in regards to ancient Mesopotamia.
Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 1995.[14]
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