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

88 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
ENGLISH EXCAVATIONS AT NIMRUD, QOYUNJUK, AND
QAL'AT SHIRGAT BY LAYARD, RASSAM, AND LOFTUS
The eagerness and determination of the scholar to decipher
and understand those long cuneiform inscriptions
which, like a commentary, accompanied the monuments of
Khorsabad, could be satisfied only after the whole material
had arrived and been published. In the meanwhile the
new impulse given to archaeological studies by the announcement
of Botta's success manifested itself at once in influencing
a young Englishman to imitate the latter's
example,
and to start excavations at one of the most prominent
Assyrian mounds, which, even two years before Botta's
arrival at Mosul, he had viewed " with the design of thoroughly
examining them whenever it might be in his power."
The man who now, as England's champion, stepped forth
into the international contest for great archaeological discoveries
was so exceptionally qualified and prepared for his
task bv natural gifts and the experience of his past life, and
at the same time so eminently successful in the choice of
his methods and men, in the overcoming of extraordinary
obstacles and difficulties, in the rapid obtaining of the most
glorious results, and in the forcible and direct manner with
which through the remarkable story of his rare achievements
he appealed to the heart of his countrymen and to the
sentiment of the whole educated world, that he at once
became, and during the whole nineteenth century remained,
the central figure of Assyrian exploration.
Sir Austen Henry Layard, the descendant of a Huguenot
refugee who had settled in England, was born in Paris on
March 5, 18 17. In consequence of his father's illness,
which frequently necessitated a change of climate, he spent
much of his boyhood in France, Switzerland, and Italy,
where, with all
the deficiencies of a desultory and highly cosmopolitan
education, he acquired a taste for the fine arts