Muazzez İlmiye Çığ

Muazzez Ilmiye Çığ ( born June 20, 1914 in Bursa) is a Turkish Sumerologin.

Biography and career

Her family came from the Crimea. Her father was one of the emigrants from there to Merzifon and her mother to Bursa. While her family lived in İzmir, Greek troops marched on June 15, 1919 in İzmir, after which they moved to Çorum.

In Çorum she attended primary school, and later in Bursa private school Bizim Mektep, where she learned to play the violin and French. In 1926 she passed the entrance examination of the bursa Kiz Moallem Mektebi (teachers school in Bursa). After graduating from this school in 1931 it was used in Eskişehir, where her father worked as a teacher. She practiced this profession from four and a half years in Bursa.

In accordance with the republican spirit, founded by Ataturk language, history and geography faculty of Ankara University was looking specifically female students. Muazzez Çığ applied in 1938 and got a place in the Department of Classical Studies. There she studied with the refugees from the Third Reich German - Jewish scientists Hans Gustav Guterbock and Benno Landsberger German, Hittite and Sumerology. In 1940 she completed her studies. At the same time she married Kemal CIG († 1983), with whom she remained his life together.

At the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, she worked in the team of Samuel Noah Kramer in the restoration and translation of Sumerian clay tablets 75,000. In 1971 she retired. She remained active in the discipline, and visited Sumerologists congresses, translated " The story begins with Sumer " by Samuel Noah Kramer into Turkish and wrote many popular - scientific works for the Turkish audience.

Headscarf debate

As a historian, she put forward the theory that the headscarf can demonstrate for the first time among the Sumerians. There was a dress code for temple prostitutes among the Sumerians. This scientific thesis brought her in 2006 an action for dissemination of religious enmity ( insulting Islam ) a. The court acquitted and came to the conclusion that her book brochure no hostilities in Turkey.

Documentary

The documentary Son Sümer Kraliçesi ( engl. the last Sumerian queen ) shines through her ​​life and gives insights into the Sumerian history.