Conference co-organized by Prof. Dominique Charpin, Mesopotamian Civilization chair, and Mr. Antoine Jacquet, researcher attached to the Mesopotamian Civilization chair.
In January 1874, Jules Oppert was appointed to the newly-created Assyrian Philology and Archaeology chair at the Collège de France , a position he held for over thirty years, until his death in 1905. The 2025 symposium commemorates not only the bicentenary of his birth, but also the exceptional legacy he left to the study of ancient civilizations.
This colloquium is not simply a celebration : it is part of an in-depth research project on the history of Assyriology, carried out within the framework of the Mesopotamian Civilization chair.It aims to explore the emergence of this discipline. Through fourteen papers, some of them using previously unpublished sources, the event will enable us to rediscover Oppert and his fundamental role in the birth of Assyriology, a rapidly evolving field.