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

DURING 19 CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 23
of the whole material by the indefatigable explorer Niebuhr,
had convinced even the most sceptical men of science that
there were really still in existence considerable artistic and
literary remains of a bygone nation, whose powerful influence,
at times, had been felt even in Egypt and Greece.
Strong efforts were made in Denmark, France, and Germany
to obtain a satisfactory knowledge of the ancient sacred
language of the Zend-Avesta, to discover the meaning
of the younger Pehlevi inscriptions on Sassanian seals and
other small objects so frequently found in Persia, and to
attempt even the deciphering of these strange wedge-shaped
characters on the walls of Persepolis. Names like Anquetil-Duperron,
Eugene Burnouf, Sylvestre de Sacy, Niebuhr,
Tychsen, Miinter, and others will always occupy a prominent
position in the esteem of the following generations
as the pioneers and leaders in a great movement which
ultimately led to the establishment of the great science
of cuneiform research, destined as it was to revolutionize
our whole conception of the countries and nations of
Western Asia. This new science, though the final result
of many combined forces, sprang so suddenly into existence
that when it was actually there, nobody seemed ready
to receive it.
In the year 1802 the genius of a young German scholar,
Georg Friederich Grotefend, then only twenty-seven years
old, well versed in classical philology but absolutely ignorant
of Oriental learning, solved the riddle, practically in a few
davs, that had puzzled much older men and scholars
apparently
much better qualified than himself.
Under the magical
touch of his hand the mystic and complicated characters of
ancient Persia suddenly gained new life.
But when he was
far enough advanced to announce to the Academy of Sciences
in Gottingen the epoch-making discovery which established
his fame and reputation forever, that learned body,
though comprising men of eminent mental training and