Bücher von George Smith

Before George Smith's early death in 1876, he was writing a history of Babylonia, and it was prepared for press by A. H. Sace and published posthumously in 1877. Smith traces the story of the Babylonian empire from mythical times to its conquest by Persia in the sixth century BCE.

In 1876, shortly before his early death, Assyriologist George Smith (1840-76) published this work, which drew extraordinary parallels between much earlier Babylonian documents and the biblical book of Genesis. The second edition, reissued here, was published in 1880, with corrections and additional material provided by Archibald Sayce.

The Assyriologist George Smith (1840-76) was trained originally as an engraver, but was enthralled by the discoveries of Layard and Rawlinson. He taught himself cuneiform script, and joined the British Museum as a 'repairer' or matcher of broken cuneiform tablets. Promotion followed, and after one of Smith's most significant discoveries among the material sent to the Museum - a Babylonian story of a great flood - he was sent to the Middle East, where he found more inscriptions which contained other parts of the epic tale of Gilgamesh. In this 1875 work, a bestseller in its day, Smith describes his expedition, the difficulties encountered, and the discoveries, including hundreds of inscriptions which increased knowledge of the Babylonian and Assyrian civilisations but also had a profound effect on traditional biblical studies. Smith died in Aleppo in 1876, having revolutionised understanding of the ancient Near East.

John Wilson (1804-1875) was a Christian missionary and philanthropist. He spent most of his working life in India, where he built churches and schools, and founded the institutions now known as Wilson College and the University of Mumbai. First published in 1878, this biography was compiled by George Smith (1833-1919), at the request of Wilson's son. As former editor of the Calcutta Review, Smith was an expert on Wilson's career, and having met him on his own travels to India, held him and his work in high esteem. The book traces Wilson's life from his childhood to his final days. It reveals his patient mediation between native Indians and their rulers, his groundbreaking and lasting influence on their lives, and his pivotal role in the British government's efforts to help India and its neighbouring countries. It remains of great interest to scholars of religious and Asian studies.

George Smith (1833-1919) published several popular books of missionary biography including this two-volume Life of Alexander Duff (1879). Duff, a Scottish Presbyterian missionary in India, was an influential educationalist who believed that successful evangelisation and modernisation depended on the education, in English, of India's upper-caste elite.