Grotefend, Georg F.

(1775-1853)

   A noted German philologist (language expert) who made the initial, crucial breakthroughs in deciphering Mesopota-mian cuneiform writing. Grotefend taught in German universities for several decades and wrote a number of books about early Italian languages, notably Latin, Umbrian, and Oscan. But his most celebrated achievement came when he tackled the then-mysterious wedge-shaped cuneiform characters from ancient Mesopotamia. Between 1800 and 1802 Grotefend studied the carvings on the Behistun Rock, lying in the plain east of Babylon. He determined first that the cuneiform writing on the cliff face was in three different languages, one of them Old Persian. He also showed that Old Persian cuneiform is alphabetic, with forty characters, and that it is read from left to right. These discoveries paved the way for later scholars, including Henry C. Rawlinson, to make full translations of the cuneiform inscriptions at Behistun and elsewhere.

   See also: Behistun Rock; cuneiform; languages