If names like Nineveh, Persepolis, Babylon, or Noah and Nebuchadnezzar ring faint bells or spark your imagination even a little, you’ll be in for a great read with “The Mesopotamian Riddle: An Archeologist, a Soldier, a Clergyman, and the Race to Decipher the World’s Oldest Writing.” The author is Joshua Hammer, a longtime seasonal visitor to the Vineyard.
Two hundred years ago, very little was known of the civilizations that flourished three or four thousand years ago in Mesopotamia, the so-called Cradle of Civilization. Tales recounted in the Old Testament referred to places and events that seemed mystical, perhaps imaginary. They could be useful as metaphor and allegory, but hard facts were in short supply, because no one had yet been able to translate the language that had dominated the region since 2000 BCE.
Traces of ancient cities and civilizations in Mesopotamia were few and far between. Monuments and huge buildings were destroyed by invaders, often leaving only rubble and ashes. Desert sands then went to work, burying them so that only huge, oddly shaped mounds survived. Sporadic explorations over the centuries had indicated that huge, elaborate cities were under some of these mounds. Babylon, for instance, had once been the vibrant, elaborate center of a vast city-state.
Until the middle of the 19th century, interest in preclassical history was concentrated on Egypt, thanks to the survival of the pyramids and other massive constructions, and because the Nile was navigable to some degree. It was also closer to Western Europe, where the interest was highest. The vast area to the east, from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, and north as far as the Black Sea, was considered wild and dangerous. Bands of outlaws roamed indiscriminately, and there was an ever-present threat of disease — dysentery, cholera, and malaria.
Archaeology was a relatively new discipline, kick-started in the middle of the previous century by the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum in southern Italy. The Rosetta Stone, found in 1799, not only unlocked hieroglyphics, it triggered new interest in the history of the region east of Egypt sometimes known as Assyria. Though it was possible to collect artifacts from “lost” cities, no one had deciphered the writing, found principally on tiles, but also on columns, steles, and friezes. For thousands of years, historians were hobbled by the inability to read what looked to one observer like the tracks of chickens walking along a narrow path.
Starting in the late 1840s, three Britons devoted themselves to translating the language. “Driven by boundless curiosity, a love of risk, and the distinctive demons of aspiration and ambition,” as Hammer describes them, they set out to bring the writing to light.
Austen Henry Layard threw off a dull job in a law office and headed east, eventually turning himself into a first-rate archeologist. Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, overshadowed by a powerful father and an older brother, caught the adventuring spirit when he was an officer of the East India Co., which largely oversaw England’s presence in India and farther east. Finally, there was Edward Hincks, a parson in rural Ireland who took to linguistics naturally and became obsessed with translating cuneiform, the oldest known writing anywhere. As their efforts became known, they became celebrities, so taken was the public by learning about the civilizations that informed much of what evolved into Western culture. No wonder: Who hasn’t dreamed of discovering a lost civilization? Atlantis, anyone?
During this era of international colonization, precious metals and artifacts were taken from their countries of origin by the colonizing powers. In their infancy at the time, museums were blossoming as repositories for the treasures. Acquisitions by the British Museum in London attracted public attention, and it wasn’t long before the French decided that the Louvre could benefit from similar displays.
Hincks, Layard, and Rawlinson risked their lives and reputations in the competition to decode cuneiform. Joshua Hammer has provided a fascinating account of their adventures, their victories, and their failures. Thanks to masterful writing, “Riddle” moves along briskly, no easy feat when linguistics is at the core of the story. Add in a steady dose of suspense and intrigue, and you have the makings of a winner. And as a potential bonus, you may find your way to the author’s earlier book, if only for the title, “The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu.”
Joshua Hammer will be speaking about “The Mesopotamian Riddle” at the West Tisbury library on Wednesday, July 16, from 4:30 to 5:30 pm.