Justin Václav Prášek a Bedřich Hrozný. Počátky české staroorientalistiky a klínopisného bádání

This publication has been created on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Czech Ancient Near Eastern Studies, which falls in 2019. After the formation of the independent Czechoslovak Republic, Bedřich Hrozný was instrumental in the establishment of the Institute of Cuneiform Research and History of the Ancient Orient at the Philosophical Faculty in Prague; however, this publication provides a wealth of information about preceding events, in particular about the efforts to establish a similar institute in Prague as early as at the end of the 19th century. Such efforts were already pursued by Hrozný’s grammar school teacher Justin Václav Prášek who, as an author of studies in the field of the ancient Near East, not only dealt with comparative ancient history, but also with extinct languages of this region and their writing systems. Prášek, who unsuccessfully advocated for the establishment of a department of ancient history at the Philosophical Faculty, was the author of many voluminous history books and textbooks, detailed publications addressing Czech topography and many other expert and popular-science studies. With hindsight, he can be regarded as the founder of Czech Ancient Near Eastern Studies.