A Memoir of Major-General Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson

George Rawlinson

• Publisher: Patavium Publishing
• Year: 2023
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781805232193
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, (born April 11, 1810, Chadlington, Oxfordshire, Eng.—died March 5, 1895, London), British army officer and Orientalist who deciphered the Old Persian portion of the trilingual cuneiform inscription of Darius I the Great at B?sit?n, Iran. His success provided the key to the deciphering, by himself and others, of Mesopotamian cuneiform script, a feat that greatly expanded knowledge of the ancient Middle East. In 1827 Rawlinson went to India as a British East India Company cadet, and in 1833 he and other British officers were sent to Iran to reorganize the shah's army. There he became keenly interested in Persian antiquities, and deciphering the cuneiform inscriptions at B?sit?n became his goal. After two years of work, Rawlinson published his translations of the first two paragraphs of the inscription (1837). Required to leave the country because of friction between Iran and Britain, Rawlinson was nevertheless able to return in 1844 to obtain impressions of the Babylonian script. As a result, his Persian Cuneiform Inscription at Behistun appeared (1846–51); it contained a complete translation, analysis of the grammar, and notes—altogether an achievement yielding valuable information on the history of ancient Persia and its rulers. With other scholars he succeeded in deciphering the Mesopotamian cuneiform script by 1857. The way to understanding ancient Babylonia and Assyria and much of biblical history now lay open. Meanwhile Rawlinson had become British consul at Baghdad (1843) and had given his collection of antiquities to the British Museum (1849–51). He became consul general at Baghdad (1851) and succeeded the archaeologist Henry Austen Layard in the work of obtaining ancient sculptures for the museum....His other writings include A Commentary on the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Babylonia and Assyria (1850) and Outline of the History of Assyria (1852).

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• A MEMOIR OF MAJOR-GENERAL SIR HENRY CRESWICKE RAWLINSON
• PREFACE
• ILLUSTRATIONS
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER I - BIRTH, PARENTAGE, AND EARLY EDUCATION
• CHAPTER II - LATER EDUCATION-EALING-BLACKHEATH
• CHAPTER III - DEPARTURE FOR INDIA-VOYAGE TO BOMBAY-LIFE AS A SUBALTERN OFFICER
• CHAPTER IV - REMOVAL TO PERSIA-VOYAGE TO BUSHIRE-LIFE IN PERSIA DURING 1833 AND 1834
• CHAPTER V - RESIDENCE IN PERSIA FROM 1835 TO 1839-FIRST ATTRACTION TO CUNEIFORM STUDIES-TRAVELS-RETURN TO INDIA FROM PERSIA.
• CHAPTER VI - LIFE DURING THE GREAT AFFGHAN WAR, 1839-1842
• CHAPTER VII
• CHAPTER VIII - FIRST RESIDENCE AT BAGHDAD (1844-49)-CUNEIFORM STUDIES-FIRST CUNEIFORM MEMOIR-STUDIES FOR SECOND MEMOIR-CONTACT WITH LAYARD-FINAL VISIT TO BEHISTUN-RETURN TO ENGLAND.
• CHAPTER IX - RECEPTION IN ENGLAND-WORK IN LONDON-LECTURES BEFORE LEARNED SOCIETIES-CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICALS-HONOURS (1849-1851)
• CHAPTER X
• CHAPTER XI
• CHAPTER XII
• CHAPTER XIII
• CHAPTER XIV
• CHAPTER XV
• CHAPTER XVI
• CHAPTER XVII
• CHAPTER XVIII
• CHAPTER XIX
• CHAPTER XX
• CHAPTER XXI
• POSITION AND WORK AS A GEOGRAPHER-FIRST ESSAYS COMMUNICATED TO THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY BY VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, 1838-1840-THEIR VALUE TO ORDINARY GEOGRAPHY-THEIR INTEREST IN CONNECTION WITH THE STUDY OF COMPARATIVE GEOGRAPHY-FURTHER WORK AS A COMPARATIVE GEOGRAPHER, 1841-1857-APPLICATION OF HIS GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE TO PRACTICAL OBJECTS-CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA-EARLY CONNECTION WITH THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY-ELEVATION TO THE PRESIDENCY OF THE SAME-ADDRESSES-IMPORTANT MEMOIRS-TESTIMONY BORNE TO HIS MERITS AS A GEOGRAPHER BY SIR CLEMENTS MARKHAM AND SIR FREDERIC GOLDSMID