Rassam, Hormuz

Hormuz Rassam , also Hormuzd Rasam ^[5] (1826 - September 16, 1910), is an Ottoman Iraqi assyriologist and traveler who worked for the British. He is considered the first Iraqi assyriologist to use European methods in his work.

Born in Mosul in a family of Syrian Christians. He was an assistant to Sir O. G. Layard on his first expedition (1845-1847), which was his first scientific work. Subsequently, he came to England, studied at Oxford and was sent by the British Museum to accompany Layard on his second expedition (1849-1851). Layard then went into politics, while Rassam continued his work (in 1852-1854) in Assyria under the guidance of the British Museum and Sir Henry Rawlinson in Nimrod and Kuyundzhik . In 1866, the British government sent him on an expedition to Abyssinia , where, however, he was imprisoned for two years until he was released by the efforts of Sir Robert Napier . From 1876 to 1882, he again engaged in assyrology in Iraq, having carried out important studies, especially on the ruins of Nineveh , and during the Russo-Turkish war he was sent on a mission to assess the living conditions of the Christian communities of Asia Minor and Armenia . His archaeological work led to many important discoveries and finds of many samples of Assyrian cuneiform writing ^[6] .

He discovered the ruins of the city of Kuta , 5 hours north-east of Babylon , on the hill of Tell Ibrahim.

• This article (section) contains text taken (translated) from the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica , which went into the public domain .