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Extract from a letter from Major Rawlinson, 7 December 1846

Identity area

Reference code

GB 891 RAS GOV7-RAS GOV7/6

Publication status

Published

Level of description

File

Extent and medium

0.75 page handwritten

Date(s)

  • 7th Dec 1846 (Creation)

Context area

Name of creator

_Rawlinson_ _Henry Creswicke_ _1810-1895_

Biographical history

Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, GCB FRS KLS (5 April 1810 – 5 March 1895) was a British East India Company army officer, politician and Orientalist, known for his decipherment of cuneiform inscriptions and therefore sometimes described as the Father of Assyriology.

Repository

Royal Asiatic Society Archives

Content and structure area

Scope and content

'Extract from a letter from Major Rawlinson to Mr (Edwin) Norris, dated Baghdad, 7 December 1846' in which he writes of his discovered inscriptions that their language is different to Babylonian though written in Babylonian characters. He thinks Assyrian is a connecting link and that old Egyptian may aid in deciphering. He is waiting for mail to come from Syria and hopes there will be something from Norris on the Babylonian excavations.

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Language of material

  • English
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