Rawlinson, Henry C.

(1810-1895)

   A British soldier, diplomat, linguist, and one of the great pioneers of Near Eastern archaeology, Assyriology, and the decipherment of the ancient cuneiform writing system. While in Iran and Iraq on an official military assignment in the 1830s, Rawlinson was drawn to the mysterious cuneiform inscriptions that had recently been unearthed in the region. He visited and studied the Behistun Rock, bearing carved drawings and cuneiform inscriptions from the reign of Persia's King Darius I. A few years later he settled in Baghdad and made a complete transcription of the Behistun inscriptions. By 1851 Rawlinson was able to read some of the words, and in the years that followed, with the aid of other scholars, he deciphered most of the rest. Later in life he took a succession of diplomatic and political posts, including a stint in the British Parliament from 1865 to 1868. But his first love remained the study of ancient Mesopotamia and its languages. For his efforts in this area he is sometimes called "the Father of Assyriology." Rawlinson published a number of important books, including The Persian Cuneiform Inscriptions at Behistun (1846-1851) and Outline of the History of Assyria (1852).

   See also: Behistun Rock; cuneiform; languages