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Simo Parpola
 
 
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Simo Parpola is professor of Assyriology
Assyriology

Assyriology is the archaeological, historical, and linguistic study of ancient Mesopotamia and the related cultures that used cuneiform writing....
 at the University of Helsinki
University of Helsinki

The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku....
 located in Helsinki
Helsinki

Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....
, Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
. He specialized in epigraphy
Epigraphy

Epigraphy is the study of wikt:inscriptions or wikt:epigraphs engraved into stone or other durable materials, or cast in metal, the science of classifying them as to cultural context and date, elucidating them and assessing what conclusions can be deduced from them....
 of the Akkadian language
Akkadian language

Akkadian or Assyrian-Babylonian is a Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian language, an unrelated language isolate....
, and has been working on the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project

In the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, the following works are published:...
 since 1987. He is also Honorary Member of the American Oriental Society
American Oriental Society

The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Commonwealth of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in United States, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship....
  and is also the chairman of The Finland Assyria Association (Suomi-Assyria Yhdistys)..

Apart from his involvment in the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project

In the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, the following works are published:...
, Parpola is perhaps best known for his controversial theory that there is a historical connection between the Sephirot of the jewish Kabbalah
Kabbalah

Kabbalah is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mysticism aspect of Judaism. It is a set of esoteric teachings that are meant to explain the relationship between an infinite, eternal and essentially unknowable Creator deity with the finite and mortal universe of His creation....
 and the motive of the so-called "Tree of life" in Assyrian iconography.






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Simo Parpola is professor of Assyriology
Assyriology

Assyriology is the archaeological, historical, and linguistic study of ancient Mesopotamia and the related cultures that used cuneiform writing....
 at the University of Helsinki
University of Helsinki

The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku....
 located in Helsinki
Helsinki

Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....
, Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
. He specialized in epigraphy
Epigraphy

Epigraphy is the study of wikt:inscriptions or wikt:epigraphs engraved into stone or other durable materials, or cast in metal, the science of classifying them as to cultural context and date, elucidating them and assessing what conclusions can be deduced from them....
 of the Akkadian language
Akkadian language

Akkadian or Assyrian-Babylonian is a Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian language, an unrelated language isolate....
, and has been working on the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project

In the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, the following works are published:...
 since 1987. He is also Honorary Member of the American Oriental Society
American Oriental Society

The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Commonwealth of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in United States, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship....
  and is also the chairman of The Finland Assyria Association (Suomi-Assyria Yhdistys)..

Apart from his involvment in the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project

In the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, the following works are published:...
, Parpola is perhaps best known for his controversial theory that there is a historical connection between the Sephirot of the jewish Kabbalah
Kabbalah

Kabbalah is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mysticism aspect of Judaism. It is a set of esoteric teachings that are meant to explain the relationship between an infinite, eternal and essentially unknowable Creator deity with the finite and mortal universe of His creation....
 and the motive of the so-called "Tree of life" in Assyrian iconography. Dr. Parpola has suggested that the oldest versions of the Sephirot extend from Assyria
Assyria

Assyria was a political state centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history....
n theology and mysticism, and has reconstructed what an Assyrian antecedent to what the Sephirot would look like. Normally, floating above the Assyrian Tree of Life
Tree of life

The concept of a many-branched tree illustrating the idea that all life on earth is related has been used in tree of life , religion, philosophy, mythology and other areas....
 was the god Assur (god), corresponding to the Hebrew Ein Sof, which is also, via a series of transformations, derived from the Assyrian word Assur. Matching the characteristics of Ein Sof
Ein Sof (Kabbalah)

Ein Sof , in the Kabbalah, is understood as Infinite Divinity. Ein Sof may be translated as "no end", "unending" or Infinite. Ein Sof is the Divine Origin of all created existence: this is in contrast to the Ein , which is infinite no-thingness ....
 on the nodes of the Sephirot to the gods of Assyria, Parpola re-interpreted various Assyrian tablets (such as the Epic Of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh also known as Bilgames in the earliest text , was the son of Lugalbanda and the fifth king of Uruk , ruling circa 2700 BC, according to the Sumerian king list....
) in terms of these primitive Sefirot. The Assyrians assigned specific numbers to their gods, similar to the numbering of the Sefirot. (The Assyrians used a sexagesimal
Sexagesimal

Sexagesimal is a numeral system with 60 as the radix. It originated with the ancient Sumerians in the 3rd millennium BC, was transmitted to the Babylonia, and is still used?in modified form?for measuring time, angles, and geographic coordinates....
 number system, whereas the Sefiroth is decimal
Decimal

The decimal numeral system has 10 as its Base . It is the most widely used numeral system....
.) With the Assyrian numbers, additional layers of meaning and mystical relevance appear in the Sefirot. For example, Dr. Parpola found textual parallels between the Assyrian gods and the characteristics of the Jewish God, and proposed that the scribes had been writing philosophical-mystical tracts, rather than mere adventure stories. He concluded that traces of this Assyrian mode of thought and philosophy had eventually reappeared in Greek Philosophy
Greek philosophy

Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. Many philosophers today concede that Greek philosophy has shaped the entire Western thought since its inception....
 and the Kabbalah
Kabbalah

Kabbalah is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mysticism aspect of Judaism. It is a set of esoteric teachings that are meant to explain the relationship between an infinite, eternal and essentially unknowable Creator deity with the finite and mortal universe of His creation....
.

Parpola's theories has attracted harsh criticism from some of his assyriological colleagues

See also

  • Sefiroth, for Dr. Parpola's reconstruction of an Assyrian Kabbalistic Sefiroth
  • Asko Parpola
    Asko Parpola

    Asko Parpola is a professor emeritus of Indology and South Asian Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He specializes in the Indus script....
    , his brother, a specialist on the Indus script.


Works

  • Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths
  • The Correspondence of Sargon II
  • The Standard Babylonian, Epic of Gilgamesh - cited in the article Epic of Gilgamesh
    Epic of Gilgamesh

    The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poetry from Ancient Mesopotamia and is among the ancient literature. Scholars believe that it originated as a series of Sumerian legends and poems about the mythological hero-king Gilgamesh, which were gathered into a longer Akkadian language poem much later; the most complete version existing today is pr...
  • Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars
  • Assyrian Prophecies
  • "" in Death in Mesopotamia: XXVI Rencontre assyriologique internationale


External links

  • Article by Simo Parpola


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