Riekele Borger

Who is Riekele Borger?

Riekele or Rykle Borger was a notable Dutch Assyriologist educated in the German tradition. He was the protegé of Wolfram Von Soden, and served out his life as Professor Ordenarius in the Seminar füe Keilschriftforschung at the University of Göttingen, Germany.

Most famous for his cuneiform signlists, Borger also published the important work "Handbuch der Keilschriftliteratur", a detailed overview of all the published books and articles related to Assyriology that were available at the time. Up until his death, Borger was working on an updated version. His self-study method for Akkadian script and language, "Babylonisch-Assyrische Lesestücke" is, despite its age, still being used and reprinted.

Rykle Borger had been the assistant to Wolfram Von Soden during the latter's work on das Akkadische Handwörterbuch, one of the monumental works of foundational Assyriological philology. This experience led Borger to think of himself as a foundational philologist, and his lifelong commitment was to creating detailed accurate reference works to support and advance the discipline of Assyriology.