05-29-2007, 02:16 PM
Today, it is 150 years ago that the "London Proof" took place. It is not a well-known event in the history of the study of Antiquity, but it deserves this little notice.
Cuneiform texts had been known for some time, and the Persian type (which is an alphabet) had already been decoded (more...). Because there are several bilingual inscriptions, it was possible to decipher Babylonian cuneiform. But the system proposed by Henry Rawlinson was weird and Rawlinson had to assume so many ambiguities, that there was wide-spread skepticism, especially because some results contradicted the Bible.
To counter this, the Royal Asiatic Society decided to offer Rawlinson and one of his colleagues a text that had been translated by its owner, and was not yet known to the two scholars. They offered an identical translation, and this proved that cuneiform sources could actually be read.
Lesley Adkins has devoted a chapter to the event (“The Final Test,â€
Cuneiform texts had been known for some time, and the Persian type (which is an alphabet) had already been decoded (more...). Because there are several bilingual inscriptions, it was possible to decipher Babylonian cuneiform. But the system proposed by Henry Rawlinson was weird and Rawlinson had to assume so many ambiguities, that there was wide-spread skepticism, especially because some results contradicted the Bible.
To counter this, the Royal Asiatic Society decided to offer Rawlinson and one of his colleagues a text that had been translated by its owner, and was not yet known to the two scholars. They offered an identical translation, and this proved that cuneiform sources could actually be read.
Lesley Adkins has devoted a chapter to the event (“The Final Test,â€
