Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

70 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
III
EXCAVATIONS AT THE PRINCIPAL SITES OF ASSYRIA
AND BABYLONIA
In the fall of 1 843, after a distinguished service in Afghanistan
(1839—42), Rawlinson, as we have seen above (p. 6%,
note 1), was transferred to Baghdad as " British Political
Agent in Turkish Arabia." The young " student-soldier,"
then occupying the rank of major, had requested Lord
Ellenborough, Governor-General of India, to appoint him
to this particular post (just about to be vacant) rather than
to the much more dignified and lucrative " Central India
Agency " offered him, because of his strong desire " to
return to the scene of his former labors and resume his
cuneiform investigations, in which he had found the greatest
pleasure and satisfaction." 1
In accepting a far inferior position
with its lighter political duties, which allowed him
ample leisure for his favorite studies, Rawlinson, with great
perspicacity, chose a life for which he was peculiarly fitted,
and entered upon a road which soon brought him fame
and recognition far beyond anything that he could ever
have achieved in governing half-civilized tribes or fighting
victorious battles. The twelve years during which Rawlinson
held his appointment in Baghdad mark the first great
period of Assyrian and Babylonian excavations. It is true
he undertook but little work in
the trenches himself, but he
influenced and supervised the excavations of others, and
personally examined all the important ruins of Assyria
and Northern Babylonia. His advice and assistance were
sought by nearly all those who with pick and spade were
engaged in uncovering the buried monuments of two great
1
Comp. "A Memoir of" Major-General Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson,"
by his brother, Canon George Rawlinson, London, 1898, pp. 139,
seqq.