HÜSING, GEORG, versatile German scholar who among other fields (e.g., German studies, mythology) specialized in Old Iranian and Elamite studies (b. 4 June 1869 in Liegnitz, Silesia; d. 1 September 1930 in Vienna). He studied Oriental languages and ancient history in Breslau, Berlin, and Königsberg, where he took his Ph.D. in 1897 with a dissertation entitled Die iranischen Eigennamen in den Achämenideninschriften (Norden, 1897). From 1912 on, he lectured on history of the ancient Near East at the University of Vienna—from 1921 as an associate professor (extraordinarius).
Hüsing was particularly engaged in the study of the history and culture, geography and ethnography, religion and mythology of ancient Iran; and he tried to reach and influence a broader public beyond the classroom. As a linguist whose studies of various ancient and modern Indo-European, Semitic, and other languages had qualified him for large-scale research, he chiefly endeavored to make the Elamite language accessible and understandable. He edited and interpreted Elamite inscriptions, and in a number of minor articles he dealt with the vocabulary and with onomastics. On the whole, Hüsing’s publications have long since become outdated; they are consulted today mainly for the history of Iranian studies.
See also: GERMANY iii.
Bibliography:
Works by Hüsing. Beiträge zur Kyros-Sage, Berlin, 1906.
Iranische Mythologie, Leipzig, 1906.
Der Zagros und seine Völker. Eine archäologisch-ethnographische Skizze, Leipzig, 1908.
Die Iranische Überlieferung und das arische System, Leipzig, 1909.
“Die elamische Sprachforschung,” Memnon 4, 1910, pp. 5-40.
Krsaaspa im Schlangenleibe und andere Nachträge zur iranischen Überlieferung, Leipzig, 1911.
Beiträge zur Rostahmsage, Leipzig, 1913.
Die einheimischen Quellen zur Geschichte Elams. I: Altelamische Texte, Leipzig, 1916 (II not published).
Völkerschichten in Iran, Vienna, 1916.
Porušātiš und das achamanidische Lehenswesen, Vienna, 1918; 2nd ed., 1933.
Die orientalischen Eigennamen im Lehrbuche der Geschichte des Altertums, Vienna and Leipzig, 1927.
Die Völker Altkleinasiens und am Pontos, Vienna, 1933.
Der Mazdahismus, Vienna, 1935.
Notices on Hüsing. Archiv für Orientforschung 6, 1930-31, pp. 253-54.
Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950. III, Graz and Cologne, 1965, pp. 5-6.
(Rüdiger Schmitt)
Originally Published: December 15, 2004
Last Updated: March 23, 2012
This article is available in print.
Vol. XII, Fasc. 6, pp. 581-582
