Sidney Smith

Sidney Smith (29 August 1889 – 12 June 1979) was an Assyriologist (both a linguist and archeologist) who has been described as the architect of Mesopotamian studies.

Life He was born in Leeds, 29 August 1889, studied in City of London School, and went to Queens' College, Cambridge on a Classical Exhibition. During WWI he served as a subaltern in an infantry battalion. In 1955 he retired to Barcombe, near Lewes in Sussex.

Smith was married to Mary (née Parker) (born 1904), the daughter of his cousin Henry Wilfred Parker, in 1927. Together they had one son, Harry Smith, an Egyptologist and academic, and one daughter.

He was the Director of Antiquities and Director of the Iraq Museum (1926–31). While there, he and his wife befriended Smith's colleague Max Mallowan and his wife, the novelist Agatha Christie,

Selected publications Smith, S. (1924). Babylonian historical texts relating to the capture and downfall of Babylon. London: Methuen. Smith, S. (1940). Alalakh and Chronology. London: Luzac.