Arthur Franz Eduard Ungnad (3 August 187926 April 1947) was a German Assyriologist and Semitologist that focused on translations, linguistic studies, inscriptions, folklore and other parts of Ancient Mesopotamian cultures such as the Hebrews, Hurrians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Subarians.
Ungnad studied Assyriology under Heinrich Zimmern and Friedrich Delitzsch and in 1903 defended his doctoral dissertation in the Humboldt University of Berlin on the syntax of the Code of Hammurabi. He worked as an assistant in the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin in Berlin. In 1909, Ungnad accepted an invitation from the University of Jena to the post of extraordinary professor of Oriental philology. In 1913, he was appointed full professor at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1919, Ungnad was appointed full professor at the University of Greifswald and in 1921, at the University of Wrocà Âaw. In 1930, he became professor Emeritus.
Ungnad's main area of âÂÂâÂÂresearch was the Assyrians and Babylonians, particularly their religious texts. Ungnad co-edited the collection "Assyrian Texts and Images of the Old Testament" (Altorientalische Texte und Bilder zum Alten Testament), together with Erich Ebeling, Hugo Gressmann and Hermann Ranke. Ungnad translated the Epic of Gilgamesh and published the text of the Elephantine papyri and ostraca. Since 1900, Ungnad has been developing his own theory, according to which the inhabitants of Subartu not only founded the Assyrian state but also spread throughout the territory between Anatolia and Egypt. He wrote grammar books for the Hebrew and Syriac languages.