Page:Discovery and Decipherment of the Trilingual Cuneiform Inscriptions.djvu/436

Rh A peculiar feature of his book is that he has made a transcription of the iiiscrii)tioii into Ileljrew characters. A complete editioii of the Babylonian columns of the Achaemenian inscriptions was published by Dr. 13ezold in 1882, with text, transliteration, translation and com- mentary, and is now the standard edition.

We have now brought to a close this tedious history of the various steps that led up to the decipherment of the Achaemenian inscriptions; and we have described the share taken in its accomplishment by a long succes- sion of scholars, from Tvchsen to Oppert. The whole of these inscriptions wen^ now interpreted and their con- tents made known to tlu* world. The difficulties of the cuneiform character, which at first appeared insui)erable, were at lenuth surmounted.

The sul)ject for a Iouli* time seemed to yield no results at all connneusurate to the labour and ability lavished upon it. Its interest seemed to be limited to the arid domains of philology, or at l)est to throw a sidelight u})on a few matters f no great importance in ancient history. Some scholars were d to be much more trustworthy than was long sui)posed ; but these were matters that could only aff(M-t a small and com])aratively worthless class o^ dilettanti. At length, however, there came the great Assyrian discoveries and the ai)parltion hi the cuneiform records of 'Jehu, the son of Omri,' and a liost of other notabilities of sacred history. The study was raised at once, especially in England, to an entirely dilfereiit plane of interest. Lectures began to be delivered upon it througliout the provinces ; books were written by Vaux, Boiiomi, Ferausson, and many others, to explain tin* subject to the public. The