The Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1798 at Rosetta (Rashid) near the westernmost mouth of the Nile River, by an officer in Napoleon's Expedition to Egypt. On a slab of black basalt was found a trilingual inscription in third-century Greek, Egyptian demotic, and Egyptian hieroglyphic script. Working from proper names in the Greek, Sylvester de Sacy of France, and J. D. Akerblad of Sweden, identified these proper names in the demotic script and then proceeded to decipher the remaining demotic inscription.

The work of Thomas Young of England and Jean Francois Champollion of France then led to the decipherment of the hieroglyphic inscription. It was with this newfound knowledge of the ancient Egyptian language that the literary treasures of the Nile Valley were opened.

As the Rosetta Stone was the key to opening the doors to Egyptology, the Behistun inscription led to the science of assyriology. On the face of a mountain, above the plain of Karmanshah on the caravan route from Babylon to Ecbatana, was carved a relief panel with numerous columns and about 1,200 lines of inscription. Again, the inscription consisted of three languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian, all written in cuneiform characters. The inscription was discovered in 1835, but it was a decade later in 1845 before the old Persian was translated by Henry C. Rawlinson, an Englishman. Then the Elamite was translated, and finally, and most importantly, the Akkadian was deciphered. The information contained on the numerous literary remains of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley, including the historical documents of Assyria, Babylon, and Sumer, was now at the disposal of scientists. The possibility of reading the ancient languages, thus greatly expanded the knowledge of Biblical background and history.

In 1838, Robinson and Smith, two long-term residents of Palestine, began a surface survey and mapping effort, which identified many ancient sites of Old Testament history. It was on the basis of their work that all future archaeology moved forward. As the historical documents of Egypt and Babylon became available, the background of Biblical history took shape. It was clear that the Scriptures represented real events and historical personalities. This evoked an even greater interest, and toward the middle of the nineteenth century, the quest for ancient papyri and parchments began in earnest.

In 1845, A. H. Lagard began excavating ancient Kalah in what is now Iraq. He discovered the palaces of Ashurnasirpal, Shalmaneser ll, Adadnirari, and Esarhaddon with vast numbers of historical and administrative texts. Four years later he uncovered the vast palace of Sennacherib at the site of ancient Nineveh and discovered the carved reliefs showing the siege of Lachish in Palestine.

In 1870, Heinrich Schliemann, working on the basis of Homer's iliad, took the ancient legend at face value and actually discovered the ruins of Troy. This momentous find also proved the value of the ruins, called "tells," so that Palestinian archaeology began to survey the hills formed over ruined towns and cities which clot the area.

In the same year the American Palestinian Exploration Society was founded and began work in Trans-Jordan. This was the beginning of the discovery of the vast treasure which was ultimately housed in the Rockefeller Museum. In 1872-1873 the library of Ashurbanipal was uncovered and its two most important finds, the Twelve Tablets of Gilgamesh and the Seven Tablets of Creation, were identified at the British Museum."