Amélie Kuhrt facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Amélie Kuhrt
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| Born | 23 September 1944 |
| Died | 2 January 2023 (aged 78) |
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Amélie Kuhrt FBA (23 September 1944 – 2 January 2023) was a British historian and specialist in the history of the ancient Near East.
Kuhrt was educated at King's College London, University College London and SOAS.
Professor Emerita at University College London, she specialised in the social, cultural and political history of the region from c. 3000–100 BC, especially the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian and Seleucid empires.
Kuhrt died on 2 January 2023, at the age of 78.
Achaemenid History Workshops
Kuhrt was co-organiser of the Groningen-based Achaemenid History Workshops with Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenberg from 1983 to 1990. These workshops were noted for their "multidisciplinary approach... [which] saved Achaemenid history from being viewed from a Hellenocentric stance" and inspired other thematically-focused scholarly activities in the 1980s and 1990s.:522–23 Proceedings from Achaemenid History Workshops were published in eight volumes (Achaemenid History: I-VIII, 1987–94).
Awards and honours
In 1997, Kuhrt's book The Ancient Near East : c.3000-330 BC was awarded the annual American History Association's James Henry Breasted Prize for the best book in English on any field of history prior to the year 1000 AD: the committee noted "enormous breadth and depth of Amelie Kuhrt’s work, her ability to elucidate even the most confused periods and deftly to incorporate both source problems and scholarly disagreements in her text, and her lucid prose make this volume a pleasure to read... she has expanded the parameters of the field of world history."
Kuhrt was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2001. She was a member of the British Academy's Projects Committee, which is responsible for assessing the scope for new projects and initiatives sponsored by the Academy. Kuhrt was elected to Honorary Membership of the American Oriental Society in 2009.
