Hormuzd Rassam
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Hormuzd Rassam (1826 – 16 September 1910) was an Assyrian Assyriologist and traveller. He was born in Mosul, Ottoman empire.
His first work was done as assistant to Sir A.H. Layard in his first expedition (1845–1847). He subsequently came to England, studied at Oxford (Magdalen College), and was again sent by the British Museum trustees to accompany Layard in his second expedition (1849–1851).
Layard having entered upon a political career, Rassam continued the work (1852–1854) in Assyria under the direction of the British Museum and Sir Henry Rawlinson at Nimrud and Kuyunjik. In 1866 he was sent by the British government to Abyssinia, where, however, he was imprisoned for two years until freed by the victory of Sir Robert Napier.
From 1876 to 1882 he was again in Assyria conducting important investigations, especially at Nineveh, and during the Russo-Turkish War he went on a mission of inquiry to report on the condition of the Christian communities of Asia Minor and Armenia. His archaeological work resulted in many important discoveries and the collection of valuable epigraphical evidence.
After 1882 Rassam lived mainly at Brighton, writing on Assyro-Babylonian exploration, on the Christian sects of the Near East, or on current religious controversy in England. Like most Oriental Christians, he was a man of strong religious convictions and having adopted evangelical views became a bitter foe of the high church movement. He was fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, the Society of Biblical Archaeology, and the Victoria Institute.
One of his greatest dicovery is a the backe-clay cylinder, which is considered to be the first bill of human rights, issued by Cyrus the Great in 539 BC, in which the Persian king refers to the capture of Babylon. Rassam's important discoveries attracted world-wide attention, and the Royal Academy of Sciences at Turin 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).
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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
