Jeremy Black (Assyriologist)

Jeremy Allen Black (1 September 1951 – Oxford 28 April 2004) was a British Assyriologist and Sumerologist, founder of the online Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.

At Oxford, he became interested in the ancient languages and cultures of Mesopotamia, and, after qualifying, changed his studies to Sumerian and Akkadian under Professor Oliver Gurney.

His (still unpublished) BA dissertation was entitled "A History of Nippur, from the Earliest Times to the End of the Kassite Period": this work was utilised in the very beginning of S.W.

From 1997, with initial funding from the Leverhulme Trust, and later from the Arts and Humanities Research Board, Black founded and administered what may well come to be considered his greatest legacy, the Internet-based "Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature".

Towards the end of his life Black had the pleasurable discovery of, and contact with, his half-brother, Peter Mitchell (the son of Dudley by his first wife), living in the British Virgin Islands.

He was also an enthusiastic amateur musician who sang bass with the Cathedral Singers of Christ Church, Oxford, and with the Northamptonshire-based period music ensemble Fiori Musicali.

The Jeremy Allen Black Trust for Assyriology, a fund to support young Assyriologists, was established by the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University in his memory.