The Persian Cuneiform Inscription at Behistun, Decyphered and Translated; with a Memoir on Persian Cuneiform Inscriptions in General, and on that of Behistun in Particular

Rawlinson, Henry C. (1810-95). The Persian cuneiform inscription at Behistun, decyphered and translated; with a memoir on Persian cuneiform inscriptions in general, and on that of Behistun in particular. [8], lxxi, 349, xix, 23pp. 8 folding lithographed plates, folding chart; pp. i – xx consist of folding lists of inscriptions. London: John Parker [for the Royal Asiatic Society], 1846-47. 212 x 127 mm. Calf gilt ca. 1847, spine a bit rubbed with a few chips in the lettering-pieces, small scuffs on the covers. Small tears to first plate and chart, but very good. Armorial bookplate of Thomas Graves (1802-56), British naval captain and naturalist. First Edition. The Behistun inscription is a trilingual cuneiform inscription carved on a limestone cliff in western Iran; it was authored by Darius the Great, who ruled the Persian Empire from 522 – 486 BCE. Written in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian (Akkadian), the inscription begins with Darius’s brief autobiography, then describes his successful suppression of multiple rebellions in the empire following the death of its second king, Cambyses II. The Behistun inscription is the longest known trilingual cuneiform inscription; as such, it served as a "Rosetta Stone" for the decipherment of its languages. Rawlinson, a British Army officer, was the first Westerner to transcribe the Old Persian portion of the Behistun inscription. Building on the work of earlier philologists, he successfully translated the Old Persian text and laid the foundation for deciphering the Elamite and Akkadian texts. His memoir on the Behistun inscription was published in two parts by the Royal Asiatic Society; the fourth chapter, titled "Analysis of the Persian inscriptions of Behistun," played an important role in vindicating Herodotus’s reputation as a reliable historian. Adkins, Empires of the Plain: Henry Rawllinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon (2004). .…