The Second World War left its mark on French Assyriology in two ways. Firstly, with the retirement or death of the leading figures of the interwar period, such as Fossey, who stopped teaching at the Collège de France in 1939 and died in 1946, Scheil and Genouillac, who died in 1940, and Thureau-Dangin, who died in 1944. A generational shift took place, with the correlative appearance of many new names. The global conflict also led to a slowdown in scientific activity. The period that began in 1945 was therefore one of recovery, although not always as fast as those concerned would have wished.
The first part of the lecture focused on the lectures. At the Collège de France, no Assyriologist succeeded Fossey when he retired in 1939. It was not until 1945 that Édouard Dhorme waselected to the chair of Assyro-Babylonian Philology and Archaeology. He was succeeded in 1952 by René Labat, who proposed a new title for his chair: "Assyriologie". He also continued to lecture at the IVthSection of the EPHE, until his death in 1974. He succeeded in creating a new department for Raymond Jestin, who taught Sumerian under this title from 1946 to 1973. Another department, entitled "Antiquités assyro-babyloniennes", was created in 1958 for Jean Bottéro, who held it until 1980. In theVe Section , Jean Nougayrol taught until his retirement in 1970, when Daniel Arnaud took over. The novelty of the period was the entry of Assyriology into the university with Paul Garelli, who became a lecturer at the Sorbonne in October 1967, then a full professor two years later, opting to join Paris-1.
