Alphabet Key To History Of Mankind

Author(s): David Diringer
Publisher: Hutchinsons Scientific and Technical Publications

Page 57

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THE ALPHABET
people and language in the whole of ancient literature. Nevertheless, English, French, German, Danish and Irish scholars in close co-operation achieved the marvellous feat of deciphering the various scripts and their various languages. The German High-School teacher, G. F. Grotefend, in 1802 laid the basis for the decipherment, but the Englishman, Major (later Major General Sir) Henry C. Rawlinson, who copied, deciphered and published in 1846 a complete translation of the early Persian text of the tri-lingual inscription of Bihistun, and a few years later tackled successfully the problem of the Babylonian writing, is the real "father" of modern decipherment. The decipherment of the Babylonian and Assyrian scripts led finally to that of the other cuneiform writings and the languages for which they were used. BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. Thureau-Dangin, Recherches sur l'origine de l'écriture, Paris, 1898; Les homophones sumériens, Paris, 1929.
L. Messerschmidt, Die Entzifferung der Keilschrift, Berlin, 1900.
L. W. King, Assyrian Language. Easy Lessons in Cuneiform Inscriptions, London, 1901.
H. Winckler, Keilinschriftliches Textbuch zum Alten Testament, and ed., Leipsic, 1903.
Ch. Fossey, Manuel d'assyriologie, Vol. I, Paris, 1904; Vol. II, Paris, 1926.
S. H. Langdon, Building Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Paris, 1905; A Sumerian Grammar and Chrestomathy, etc., Paris, 1911; Die neubabylonischen Königsinschriften, etc., Leipsic, 1912; Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Inscriptions, Oxford, 1923; Pictographic Inscriptions from Femdet-Nasr, Oxford, 1928.
0. Weber, Die Literatur der Babylonier und Assyrer, Leipsic, 1907; Altorientalische Siegelbilder, Leipsic, 1920.
F. Bork, Die Mitannisprache, Berlin, gog; Die Strichinschriften von Susa, Koenigsberg, 1924; Schriftprobleme aus Elam, "ARCHIV FUER SCHREIB- UND BUCHWESEN," 1928; Elamische Studien, Leipsic, 1933; Der Mitanibrief (sic!) und seine Sprache, Koenigsberg, 1939.
C. F. Lehmann-Haupt, Armenien einst und jetzt, 3 vols., Berlin and Leipsic, 1910-1931; Corpus Inscriptionum Chaldicarum, Berlin and Leipsic, 1928 onwards.
L. Messerschmidt and O. Schroeder, Keilschrifttexte aus Assur historischen Inhalts, Leipsic, 1911-12; O. Schroeder, Keilschrifttexte aus Assur verschiedenen Inhalts, Leipsic, 1920.
P.S.P. Handcock, Mesopotamian Archeology, London, 1912; Selections from the Tell El-Amarna Letters, London, 1920.
G. A. Barton, The Origin and Development of Babylonian Writing, Baltimore, 1913.
J. Knudzton, Die El-Amarna Tafeln, 2 vols., 1913; re-edited by S. A. B. Mercer, The Tell el-Amarna Tablets, 2 vols., Toronto, 1939.
Hittite Cuneiform Texts: Keilschrifttexte and Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghaskai (by Figulla, Forrer, Hrozný, Weber and Weidner), Leipsic, 1916-1923: Hittite Texts in the Cuneiform Character, London, British Museum, 1920 onwards.
C.L. Woolley, Dead Totons and Living Men, etc., London, 1920; The Sumerians, Oxford, 1928; Ur of the Chaldees, London, 1929, 1935 and 1938; Digging up the Post, London, 1937