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Concept
Hormuzd Rassam
Summary
Hormuzd Rassam (هرمز رسام; ܗܪܡܙܕ ܪܣܐܡ; 1826 16 September 1910) was an Assyriologist and author. He is known for making a number of important archaeological discoveries from 1877 to 1882, including the clay tablets that contained the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world's oldest notable literature. He is widely believed to be the first-known Middle Eastern and Assyrian archaeologist from the Ottoman empire. He emigrated to the United Kingdom, where he was naturalized as a British citizen, settling in Brighton. He represented the government as a diplomat, helping to free British diplomats from captivity in Ethiopia.
Hormuzd Rassam was an ethnic Assyrian, born in Mosul in Upper Mesopotamia (now modern northern Iraq), then part of the Ottoman Empire. His father was a member of the Chaldean Catholic Church. and his grandfather, Anton Rassam, from Mosul, was archdeacon in the Chaldean Catholic Church. His mother Theresa was a daughter of Isaak Halabee of Aleppo, also then within the Ottoman Empire. Hormuzd's brother was British Vice-Consul in Mosul, which was how he obtained his start with Layard.
At the age of 20 in 1846, Rassam was hired by British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard as a paymaster at Nimrud, a nearby ancient Assyrian excavation site. Layard, who was in Mosul on his first expedition (1845–47), was impressed by the hardworking Rassam and took him under his wing; they would remain friends for life. Layard provided an opportunity for Rassam to travel to England and study at Magdalen College, Oxford. He studied there for 18 months before accompanying Layard on his second expedition to Iraq (1849–51).
Layard left archeology to begin a political career. Rassam continued field work (1852–54) at Nimrud and Nineveh, where he made a number of important and independent discoveries. These included the clay tablets that would later be deciphered by George Smith as the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world's oldest written narrative poem.
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