Igor Diakonov
Igor Mikhailovich Diakonov () (December 30, 1914 (
January 12,
1915),
Petrogradâ€"
May 2,
1999,
St Petersburg) is a
Russian/
Soviet historian, linguist, and translator who should be ranked among the greatest authorities on Ancient East and its languages.
Diakonov, both of whose brothers were distinguished historians, was brought up in
Norway and graduated from the
Leningrad University in
1938, joining the staff of the
Hermitage Museum the same year. In
1949 he published a comprehensive study of
Assyria, followed by the monograph on
Media in
1956. Later, he teamed with the linguist
Sergei Starostin to produce authoritative studies of the
Caucasian,
Afro-Asiatic and
Hurro-Urartian languages.
External link
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Diakonov as a translator
