Empires of the Plain: Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon

By Lesley Adkins

Book Overview

From 1827 Henry Rawlinson, fearless soldier, sportsman and imperial adventurer of the first rank, spent twenty-five years in India, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan in the service of the East India Company. During this time he survived the dangers of disease and warfare, including the disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War. A gifted linguist, fascinated by history and exploration, he became obsessed with cuneiform, the world's earliest writing. An immense inscription high on a sheer rock face at Bisitun in the mountains of western Iran, carved on the orders of King Darius the Great of Persia over 2,000 years ago, was the key to understanding the many cuneiform scripts and languages. Only Rawlinson had the physical and intellectual skills, courage, self-motivation and opportunity to make the perilous ascent and copy the monument. Here, Lesley Adkins relates the story of Rawlinson's life and how he triumphed in deciphering the lost languages of Persia and Babylonia, overcoming his brilliant but bitter rival, Edward Hincks. While based in Baghdad, Rawlinson became involved in the very first excavations of the ancient mounds of Mesopotamia, from Nineveh to Babylon, an area that had been fought over by so many powerful empires. His decipherment of the inscriptions resurrected unsuspected civilizations, revealing intriguing details of everyday life and forgotten historical events. By proving to the astonished Victorian public that people and places in the Old Testament really existed (and, furthermore, that documents and chronicles had survived from well before the writing of the Bible), Rawlinson became a celebrity and assured his own place in history.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312330022
• ISBN13: 9780312330026
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 424 Pages
• Weight: 1.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Well research and well written

This book on Henry Rawlinson will be of interest to anyone who has an interest in the fascinating history of the decipherment of ancient texts. Its hallmark is that it is well researched, and like all Lesley Adkin's books, nicely written. The book traces his life through his diaries and letters as a youth during the time he was most passionate about understanding the lost languages of Babylon. I had heard of Rawlinson prior to reading this book, mainly as a result of his time as president of the the Royal Geographic Society, but this biography is very illuminating regarding his contribution to the deciperment of oriental languages. What I liked most about the early sections of the book was the very personal nature of the letters he wrote home during his lonely time in Middle East. In his later life, as a major, he was caught up in the fighting and turmoil of the middle east - something not lost on us today. If you are interested in this book you should also have a look at Lesley's other book (co written with her husband) on decipherment, The Keys of Egypt.

Remarkable story of a remarkable man

This book tells the story of Henry Rawlinson -- British soldier, diplomat, and amateur linguist in the 1820s, '30s, and '40s. His stomping ground: Persia and what is now Iraq. His principal claim to fame is the decipherment of cuneiform, giving us the ability to read for the first time texts that were between 2500 and 4000 years old. In this endeavor he was entirely self-taught, virtually cut off from potential colleagues in Britain and on the continent, and working under the most hostile conditions imaginable. To decipher cuneiform, he had to first acquire samples of ancient text -- which in one especially important instance meant clinging to a cliff-face hundreds of feet off the ground and laboriously copying the strange script into a notebook. The book itself is well written, well illustrated with drawings and photographs, and filled with stories of Rawlinson's contemporaries -- including real heroes, like Henry Layard, who excavated Nineveh and Babylon, and not a few semi-villains. All in all, an amazing story and a terrific book.