The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Jastrow, Morris, Jr.

JASTROW, Morris, Jr., American Orientalist: b. Warsaw, Poland, 13 Aug. 1861. He was a son of the preceding and coming to Philadelphia with his parents in early childhood (1866), he was trained in the schools of that city, was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1881, and from the University of Leipzig 1884, receiving the degree ot Ph.D., after which he spent another year in the study of Semitic languages at the Sorbonne, the Collège de France and the Ecole des Langues Orientales Levant Vivantes. He had intended to devote himself to the Jewish ministry, carrying on for this purpose theological studies at the Jewish Seminary of Breslau (Germany) while pursuing the study of Semitic languages at German universities. On his return to the United States in 1885 he was appointed assistant to his father in Philadelphia, which position he voluntarily resigned after one year, in order to devote himself entirely to linguistic and archæological studies. He gradually extended his field to include the history of religions. He has been connected with the University of Pennsylvania since 1885, first as instructor in Semitic languages and afterward, in 1891, appointed to the chair of Semitic languages which position he still holds. In 1888 he was made assistant librarian of the university, and in 1898 librarian-in-chief. His published works are ‘Religion of the Assyrians and Babylonians’ (1898); ‘Two Grammatical Treatises of Abu Zakariyya Hayyug’ (1897); ‘A Fragment of the Babylonian Dibbarra Epic’ (1891); ‘The Study of Religion’ (1901); ‘ Aspects of Religious Practice and Belief among the Babylonians and Assyrians’ (1911); ‘Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens’ (3 vols., 1905-12), an enlarged and entirely rewritten German edition of the English work above, together with a separate volume of illustrations bearing on the religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians; ‘Bildermappe zur Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens’ (1912); ‘Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions’ (1914); ‘Babylonian-Assyrian Birth Omens and Their Cultural Significance’ (1914); and ‘The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria’ (1915). In collaboration with his wife (Helen Bachman Jastrow) he edited an English translation of ‘Selected Essays of James Darmesteter’ (1895), the translation from the French being made by Mrs. Jastrow, and he adding a memoir of Darmesteter. In addition to the above he has published a large number of papers on Assyriological, Biblical and Hebrew topics, as well as articles dealing with the history of religions and with archæological problems in the periodicals of learned societies of America and Europe and in technical periodicals of various parts of the world. He has also been a contributor to various Bible dictionaries, to the ‘Jewish Encyclopedia,’ ‘Encyclopedia Britannica,’ ‘International Encyclopedia,’ to ‘Webster's Dictionary,’ etc. A bibliography of his books, monographs and papers, covering the years 1885-1916, was compiled and published (for private circulation) by Profs. A. T. Clay and J. A. Montgomery.