Dominique Charpin, in his book En quête de Ninive. Des savants français à la découverte de la Mésopotamie (Collège de France/Les Belles Lettres, 2022), takes an in-depth look at Jules Oppert's career and his role in the development of Assyriology. Essential reading to complement or anticipate a visit to the exhibition " Jules Oppert et la découverte de la Mésopotamie (1850-1905) ", presented at the Institute of Civilizations, from June 18 to September 21 2025 !
In the excerpt below (p. 67), Dominique Charpin describes the rivalry between the two great scholars Oppert and Renan, both professors at the Collège de France, over Assyrian, a language that had only just been discovered :
The nature of the Assyrian language was the subject of a polemic between Renan and Oppert, the latter considering (correctly) that it was a Semitic language. Oppert replied to Renan with his customary verve :
" M. Renan says : "The Semitic language that M. Oppertgives us hurts in several points the feeling I believe I have of a Semitic language." In several respects, but not in the main respects, not in all respects. And since we find the same phenomena in all Semitic families, we even turn Mr. Renan's syllogism against him. Our learned critic seems to be saying :
The Assyrian language hurts Mr. Renan's feeling about Semitic languages at several points :
So the Assyrian language is not Semitic ;
We, who only observe facts, would say :
The Assyrian language hurts M. Renan's feeling about Semitic languages at several points :
So M. Renan may not have the true feeling about these idioms. "
And he adds humorously :
" That the Semitic Assyrians accepted a script from another nation, while they could have chosen one that would have better suited their language, is regrettable, but it's not the fault of Messrs. the Assyriologists. "
