ABSTRACT
The emergence of Assyriology as a field of specialization marked the second stage in the process of differentiation. Assyriology delineates the study of ancient cultures centered in the Mesopotamian region. In philological terms, it is seen as a sub-discipline of the study of Semitic languages. This chapter will consider the reasons for the emergence of the discipline. In particular, I shall discuss to what extent it can be ascribed to academic developments within the university, or whether it may have been a function of external, non-scholarly factors. Why did a field that hardly existed suddenly become a major field of specialization in institutional terms, while other already traditional fields, e.g., Arabic studies, failed to do so? Why did scholarly interests turn to ancient periods, at a time when German politics developed an interest in the contemporary Middle East? Did the emergence of Assyriology within Oriental philology mirror the transition from classical philology to the study of classical antiquity?
