Henry Rawlinson — LLMpedia

Henry Rawlinson
Name	Henry Rawlinson
Caption	Major-General Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet
Birth date	5 April 1810
Birth place	Chadlington, Oxfordshire, England
Death date	5 March 1895
Death place	London, England
Nationality	British
Known for	Decipherment of cuneiform; Behistun Inscription
Occupation	British Army officer, diplomat, Assyriologist
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Contents

Early Life and Military Career
The Behistun Inscription and Cuneiform Decipherment
Archaeological Work in Mesopotamia
Contributions to Assyriology and Babylonian Studies
Diplomatic Service and Later Life
Legacy and Impact on Understanding Ancient Babylon

Henry Rawlinson. Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, was a pivotal figure in the decipherment of cuneiform script and the founding of modern Assyriology. His work, particularly on the Behistun Inscription, unlocked the languages of Ancient Mesopotamia, providing the first reliable means to read the historical and literary records of Ancient Babylon and the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This breakthrough transformed the study of the ancient Near East from a field of speculation into a rigorous historical discipline, revealing the complexities of early imperialism, law, and society.

Early Life and Military Career

Born into a moderately wealthy family, Henry Rawlinson was commissioned into the British East India Company's military service at a young age. His early career was spent in India, where he developed a keen interest in languages and Persian history. In 1833, he was transferred to Persia (modern-day Iran) to help reorganize the Shah's army, a common form of British imperial influence. This posting proved fateful, placing him in proximity to the Behistun Inscription, a monumental trilingual text carved high on a cliff face. His military training and surveying skills, honed in the service of colonial interests, were directly applicable to the perilous task of copying the inscription's ancient characters.

The Behistun Inscription and Cuneiform Decipherment

The Behistun Inscription, created by order of Darius the Great, contained identical texts in three cuneiform scripts: Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian (a later dialect of Akkadian). Rawlinson's monumental effort to scale the cliff and create accurate lithographic copies of the texts, completed between 1835 and 1847, provided the raw material for decipherment. Working independently but contemporaneously with Edward Hincks and Julius Oppert, Rawlinson successfully deciphered the Old Persian cuneiform syllabary. He then applied this knowledge to crack the far more complex Babylonian script, which was used to write the language of Ancient Babylon. His 1851 publication of the inscription's text and translation in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society is considered a foundational document for Assyriology.

Archaeological Work in Mesopotamia

Following his decipherment work, Rawlinson actively promoted and participated in the early phase of archaeology in Mesopotamia. As a political agent in Ottoman-controlled Baghdad, he used his diplomatic influence to support excavations. He facilitated the work of Austen Henry Layard at the Neo-Assyrian sites of Nimrud and Nineveh, where thousands of cuneiform tablets were unearthed. Rawlinson himself oversaw early, though not always methodical, excavations at sites like Borsippa and directed the first excavations at the great Sumerian city of Ur. He also played a key role in transporting major artifacts, like the Balawat Gates, to the British Museum, shaping early museum collections and public perception of Mesopotamian antiquity.

Contributions to Assyriology and Babylonian Studies

Rawlinson's contributions extended beyond field archaeology into systematic scholarship. He was instrumental in the publication of the monumental Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, a multi-volume set of lithographic copies that served as the primary corpus for scholars worldwide. His work helped identify and translate foundational texts of Ancient Babylon, including early versions of the legal code that would later be fully understood with the discovery of the Code of Hammurabi. He correctly identified the Sumerian language as distinct from Akkadian, recognizing the profound cultural and linguistic layering in Mesopotamian history. His efforts helped establish institutions like the British Museum's department of antiquities as centers for the study of cuneiform.

Diplomatic Service and Later Life

Rawlinson's career was a blend of scholarship and imperial service. He held significant diplomatic posts, including Consul-General in Baghdad and later a seat on the India Council in London. His political writings often reflected a hawkish, imperial perspective, advocating for strong British influence in Afghanistan and Persia as a buffer against Russian expansion—a policy known as the Great Game. He was knighted (Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath) and created a baronet for his services. In his later years, he served as a Trustee of the British Museum and continued to publish scholarly articles, although his methods were sometimes challenged by a new generation of professional philologists like George Smith.

Legacy and Impact on Understanding Ancient Babylon