Hormuzd Rassam (1826 – 16 September, 1910) was an
AssyriologistAssyriology is the archaeological, historical, and linguistic study of ancient Mesopotamia and the related cultures that used cuneiform writing. The field covers not just Assyria but also that nation's eventual conqueror, Babylonia, together with the predecessor of both civilizations, Sumer...
and traveller who made a number of important discoveries, including the stone tablets that contained the
Epic of GilgameshThe Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Ancient Iraq and is among the earliest known works of literary writings. Scholars believe that it originated as a series of Sumerian legends and poems about the mythological hero-king Gilgamesh, which were gathered into a longer Akkadian poem much later;...
, the world's oldest literature. Even though he became a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
citizen later in his life he can be accepted to be the first known
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
and Middle Eastern archaeologist.
An ethnic
AssyrianThe Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people are an ethnic group whose origins lie in the Fertile Crescent, their homeland today being divided between Northern Iraq, Syria, Western...
, Rassam was born in
MosulMosul is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some 400 km northwest of Baghdad...
,
Ottoman empireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
as a Chaldean Catholic to mixed cultural situation.
Hormuzd Rassam (1826 – 16 September, 1910) was an
AssyriologistAssyriology is the archaeological, historical, and linguistic study of ancient Mesopotamia and the related cultures that used cuneiform writing. The field covers not just Assyria but also that nation's eventual conqueror, Babylonia, together with the predecessor of both civilizations, Sumer...
and traveller who made a number of important discoveries, including the stone tablets that contained the
Epic of GilgameshThe Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Ancient Iraq and is among the earliest known works of literary writings. Scholars believe that it originated as a series of Sumerian legends and poems about the mythological hero-king Gilgamesh, which were gathered into a longer Akkadian poem much later;...
, the world's oldest literature. Even though he became a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
citizen later in his life he can be accepted to be the first known
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
and Middle Eastern archaeologist.
Biography
An ethnic
AssyrianThe Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people are an ethnic group whose origins lie in the Fertile Crescent, their homeland today being divided between Northern Iraq, Syria, Western...
, Rassam was born in
MosulMosul is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some 400 km northwest of Baghdad...
,
Ottoman empireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
as a Chaldean Catholic to mixed cultural situation. His father Anton Rassam was from Mosul and was archdeacon in the
Assyrian Church of the Eaststyle="float: right;"|- |The Assyrian Church of the East known officially as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East , in Persian القدس وابسته به پاپ کاتولیک آشوری...
, his mother Theresa was daughter of Ishaak Halabee of Aleppo, Syria. When he was 20 years old, he was hired by British archaeologist
A.H. LayardSir Austen Henry Layard GCB, PC was a British traveller, archaeologist, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, author, politician and diplomat, best known as the excavator of Nimrud.-Family:...
as a pay master at a nearby dig site. Layard, who was in Mosul on his first expedition (1845-1847), was impressed by the hard-working Rassam and took him under his wing; they would remain friends for life. Layard provided an opportunity for Rassam to travel to
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and study at
OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
(
Magdalen CollegeMagdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million....
), where he stayed for 18 months before accompanying Layard on his second expedition to Iraq (1849–1851).
Layard then began a political career, and Rassam continued field work (1852–1854) at
NimrudNimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located south of Nineveh on the river Tigris. In ancient times the city was called Kalḫu. The Arabs called the city Nimrud after Nimrod, a legendary hunting hero....
and Kuyunjik, where he made a number of important and independent discoveries, including clay tablets that would later be deciphered by
George SmithGeorge Smith , was a pioneering English Assyriologist who first discovered and translated the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest-known written work of literature.-Bibliography:...
as the
Epic of GilgameshThe Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Ancient Iraq and is among the earliest known works of literary writings. Scholars believe that it originated as a series of Sumerian legends and poems about the mythological hero-king Gilgamesh, which were gathered into a longer Akkadian poem much later;...
, the world's oldest-known example of written literature.
Rassam then returned to England and, with the help of his friend Layard, started a new career in government with a posting to the British Consulate in Aden. In 1866, an international crisis erupted in
EthiopiaEthiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
when British missionaries were taken hostage by Emperor
Tewodros II of EthiopiaTewodros II was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death.He was born Kassa Haile Giorgis, but was more regularly referred to as Kassa Hailu...
. England decided to send Rassam as an ambassador with a message from Queen Victoria in the hope of resolving the situation peacefully. However, he, too, was taken prisoner and held for two years until English and Indian troops under Robert Napier in the
1868 Expedition to AbyssiniaThe British 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia was a punitive expedition carried out by armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire. Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia, also known as "Theodore," imprisoned several missionaries and two representatives of the British government...
resolved the standoff by defeating the warlord and his army. Rassam's reputation was damaged because he was unfairly portrayed as weak and ineffectual in dealing with the warlord, in large part due to systemic Victorian prejudices against "Orientals".
His political career in ruins, Rassam resumed his archaeological work. He was sent by the
British MuseumThe British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from...
to Assyria, where he conducted important investigations, especially at
NinevehNineveh , an "exceeding great city", as it is called in the Book of Jonah, lay on the eastern bank of the Tigris in ancient Assyria, across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, Iraq.-Geography:Ancient Nineveh's mound-ruins of Kouyunjik and Nabī Yūnus are located...
. During the Russo-Turkish War, he undertook a mission of inquiry to report on the condition of the Christian communities of Asia Minor and
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. His archaeological work resulted in many important discoveries and the collection of valuable epigraphical evidence.
After 1882, Rassam lived mainly at
BrightonBrighton is a town in the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex on the south coast of Great Britain...
, writing on Assyro-Babylonian exploration, on the
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
sects of the
Near EastNear East today is an ambiguous term that covers different countries for archeologists and historians, on one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
, and on current religious controversies in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He was a fellow of the
Royal Geographical SocietyThe Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 with the name Geographical Society of London for the advancement of geographical sciences, under the patronage of King William IV...
, the Society of Biblical Archaeology, and the Victoria Institute.
One of his greatest discoveries was the clay tablets that contained the
Epic of GilgameshThe Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Ancient Iraq and is among the earliest known works of literary writings. Scholars believe that it originated as a series of Sumerian legends and poems about the mythological hero-king Gilgamesh, which were gathered into a longer Akkadian poem much later;...
, the world's oldest surviving literature. In addition, he found the
Cyrus cylinderThe Cyrus cylinder, also known as the Cyrus the Great cylinder, is a document issued by the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great in the form of a clay cylinder inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform script...
, the famous declaration of
Cyrus the GreatCyrus the Great , also known as Cyrus II of Persia and Cyrus the Elder, was the first Zoroastrian Persian Shāhanshāh...
that was issued in 539 BC to commemorate the Persian Empire's conquest of
BabylonBabylon was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
. Rassam's discoveries attracted world-wide attention, and the Royal Academy of Sciences at
TurinTurin is a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River surrounded by the Alpine arch...
awarded him the Brazza prize of 12,000 fr. for the four years 1879-82.
His publications include:
The British Mission to Theodore, King of Abyssinia, (1869) and
Asshur and the Land of Nimrod (1897).
Rassam married an Englishwoman, Anne Eliza Price, and became the father of 7 children. His eldest daughter, Theresa Rassam, born in 1871, was a professional singer who sang with the
D'Oyly Carte Opera CompanyThe D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged performances of Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy Operas year-round in the UK, Europe, North America, South Africa, Australasia and elsewhere from the 1870s until it closed in 1982...
.