THE ROCK-FACE PRINTERS &
THE REMARKABLE
COPIER !
It was no easy matter being a printer during the reign
of Darius I. King of the Persian Empire ! After all , it was about 2 500 years ago, long before the
technology of Heidelberg Speedmasters,
Xerox Copiers or IBM computers.
In those days ‘printing’ was a matter of scratching
one’s message on a clay tablet, and then baking it for permanency,... or taking
hammer and chisel and pounding away at some rock.
The Primitive Printers.
Plenty of folk had done just that and in the early 19th
Century archaeologists combed these ancient lands to excavate hundreds, nay,
thousands of artefacts covered with strange markings. It looked as if a robin
had hopped about on the tablet, or the vase, or the stone, and thereby with its tiny feet imprinted these
curious arrow-head shapes .
The scholars for a time wondered if it was some kind of ancient
decoration. And then came the
realization... it was writing!
Today it is known as cuneiform script.
( The word cuneiform comes from the Latin ‘cuneus’
meaning ‘wedge’.)
But Darius I. decided to give his printers ... or workmen
, if you like, ... a more difficult task. He wanted his portrait and exploits
displayed for all the world to see, or, at least, all who passed by on the
caravan route from Babylon, capital of
Mesopotamia to Ecbatana, capital of
Persia. For here two hundred miles north of Babylon, a massive lime-stone
mountain, 1,700 feet in height (520 m.), rose from the Plain of Karmanshah ......
the Behistun Rock !( Some writers refer to it as Bisitun. ) And upon this monolith Darius I. would have
his workers labour that his fame
might be forever immortalised.
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The Sculptured Rock !
Some 400 feet (120 m.) above the desert sands would the life–like figure of the ancient despot
be carved ..... “high
browed, straight nosed, curly bearded” (1) with his left foot on the
neck of Gaumata, the rebel. A winged
‘god’, Ahuramazda, hovers overhead
and eight captives with necks roped
together await the King’s sentence. One
wonders how many of the Persian sculptors responsible for this art-work slipped
and plunged to certain death in the
valley far below.
But not only was this portrait
to be carved upon the mountain side but also fourteen columns of
cuneiform writing... or, to be more specific, three variations of cuneiform writing.
For the ancient decree of the
Persian King was recorded in three different languages...Ancient Persian (515
lines); Elamite (650 lines)and Babylonian (141 lines). The whole carving, ... artwork and writing ...is 100 feet high, that is to say, the
highest line of writing is 500 feet above ground level. Altogether it covers 6,000 square feet,
“larger than half a football field. Where loose rocks and cracks were found,
hot lead was added as a stabilizer or fill.”(2) All on the sheer face of the
mountain-side! Even in our day, with
all the resources at our disposal, such a feat would be a Herculean task.
............................................................................................................................................
To protect his monument Darius I. further decreed that a type of silicon
varnish be painted over the entire work,. “This had successfully preserved the
writing from the effects of the sun, rain and frost and the varnish had become
harder than the rock itself.” (3)
Moreover, the ledge at the foot of the carvings upon which the workmen
precariously stood was actually cut away for ten feet that none might pass
along the full 150 feet length. The
ledge itself is only about six feet wide in some places...and sometimes narrows
in to less than two feet. Again, lest some future generation of vandals
deface his self- glorification
in stone, this Persian monarch had 100 feet
of cliff face below his inscription
sheered away that it would be almost impossible for a human to climb!
(4)
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The Forgotten Message.
But the centuries rolled on and the
proud and mighty King was soon
forgotten. The cuneiform language became unintelligible to future generations.
Passers-by gazed upon the rock-face figures and wondered if it were a
schoolmaster punishing his rebellious pupils. (5) Other scholars suggested that the depiction was of “the lost ten
tribes of Israel or even the 12 Apostles.” (5)
. Some ancient travellers even suggested the work to be that of a god.... and named the place Baga-stana ( The Place of God ), hence
its modern name, Behistun. Nobody could
explain the origin of the curious artwork
sculptured high above them. Nor could they decipher the thousands of
tiny arrowhead markings surrounding it
.
.........................................................
The
Adventurous Teenager.
It was 1834 when a young
army officer, stationed some twenty-six
miles away, jogged daily along the old dusty road and studied the inscription through his
telescope. His name was Henry Creswicke Rawlinson and he had been born in Oxfordshire , England, in 1810. By the age of 17 Rawlinson
was employed as a military cadet by the East India Company. During the
voyage around Cape Horn and on to India itself
this enterprising and adventurous teenager actually produced and edited
the ship’s newspaper. (7) He also found a companion in fellow passenger, Sir
John Malcolm, Governor of Bombay who was a
“passionate student of Persian history...and language.” Rawlinson’s
enthusiasm for a study of linguistics was ignited, never to be quenched. Already a German
schoolmaster, Georg Grotefend,
was making himself known in scholastic circles with the claim that he
had discovered names of ancient
Kings among recently unearthed
cuneiform artefacts. Likewise scholars in England, France and Scandinavia set
their wits to unravel the cuneiform script of old Persia. While several shrewd
guesses were made there was no substantial progress.”(8) Much more work needed
to be done.
By the age of 23 Rawlinson was a Major
of the British army and stationed in
Persia. The following year he was investigating the mysterious Behistun
Rock. Not only with his eye-glass but
“making his way up and down the
precipice three or four times a day! He had no rope, no ladder to assist him.
All he had to rely upon were his own sure feet and strong hands. A slip meant
certain death...”( 9)
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The 19th. Century Copier !
Using “paper mache” he made a squeeze of the ancient writings
... a remarkable, albeit primitive, copier indeed ! In a lecture delivered to
the Society of Antiquaries of London some years later ( 1852 ) Rawlinson described this method... “ Forming these paper casts is exceedingly simple, nothing more being
required than to take a number of sheets of paper without size, spread them on
the rock, moisten them, and then beat them into the crevices with a stout brush
adding as many layers of paper as it may be wished to give consistency to the
cast. The paper is left there to dry, and on being taken off it exhibits a
perfect reversed impression of the writing.” (10)
Then came the necessity for a ladder
not to mention one or two Kurdish
helpers to tackle the hazardous ascent of the Rock with him and then hold that ladder from slipping of the
narrow ledge. It boggles the mind to
think of Rawlinson “balancing
precariously on the top rung with nothing to grasp for support and with an
almost sheer 300 feet drop below him as he transcribed the upper portions of
the panel.”(11) But that is what he
did!
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The Death-defying Moment !
To copy all the inscriptions meant
crossing over the ten feet where no ledge existed. Rawlinson tells us in his
own words how he decided to use the ladder as a bridge... “I prepared to cross ... If the ladder had
been a compact article this mode of crossing ...would have been practicable.
But the Persians merely fit the bars of their ladders without pretending to
clench them outside. ...I had hardly begun to cross when the lower side of the
ladder parted company from the other and went crashing down the
precipice.... Hanging on to the upper
side which still remained firmly fixed in its place and assisted by my
friends.... I regained the Persian recess and did not again attempt to cross until
I had made a bridge of comparative stability.” (12)
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Then came the use of swings to reach
those places too high for a ladder and,
to quote Rawlinson again, .. “a wild Kurdish boy” scaled to a higher ridge, ropes were secured and “ he formed a
swinging seat, like a painter’s cradle, and, fixed upon this seat, he took
under my direction the paper cast of
the Babylonian translation of the records of
Darius...” . Some of these “were later eaten by mice at the British Museum – but only after
they were no longer needed.” !!(13)
At last the task was completed. After
four years of daily risking his life he had copied 1,200 lines of the three
cuneiform scripts. Now came the next
incredible chapter...deciphering them
!
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The Translation Problem.
In 1844,at the British consulate at Baghdad, we find him engrossed in a
study of the ancient script, “a pet
lion at his feet and a water-wheel from the Tigris pouring water over the roof
of the summer house to keep it cool.” (14)
He was quite ignorant of
Grotefend’s efforts in the same
field, and those of an Irish clergyman “who scarcely ever left his country
parsonage”, Dr. Edward Hincks, who was also wrestling with the translation problem.
And problem it was. With a capital P ! How could anyone read those odd wedge shaped
markings ? In Elamite for example, the
signs were not even alphabetic. A single sign “could be at times a syllable, or
a whole word, or different syllables or even several different words ! The
words could change their meaning depending upon context and the pronunciation
of a word was not derived from any of the signs that made up the word !
Scholars despaired of deciphering it...”( 15)
........................................................................................................
But by 1846 Rawlinson was in print.
It was his translation of the Behistun inscriptions and published by the Royal
Asiatic Society. After 2,500 years Darius I. was no longer forgotten ! His ancient decree was in print .... again !
After describing himself as “The Great King, King of Kings and King of Persia” Darius I. had actually continued by boasting of his cruelty.... “by the grace of
Ahuramazda ...they seized Citrantakhma and brought him to me. Then I cut off
his nose and his ears and I put out his eyes. He was kept in fetters in my
court and all the people beheld him. Afterwards did I crucify him in
Arbella....” (16) And that’s just a
sample.......
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.The Dubious Scholars.
The eminent Orientalists and
linguistic scholars could not believe Rawlinson’s claims. He was even accused of playing “unscientific
jokes” with his so-called translation.
As the literary battle raged in
scholastic circles William Henry Fox
Talbot came forward with an ingenious solution. [ Talbot, incidentally was a pioneer of photography and the
inventor of calotype; a system of
printing from negatives. His book
titled The Pencil of Nature was the first volume illustrated with photographs ever to be
published. ( 1844) ] (17)
Talbot’s suggestion was that an
identical copy of a cuneiform text be
sent to four scholars who by this time
had claimed to have ‘cracked the cuneiform code’ . Rawlinson, Hincks, Talbot himself and German orientalist, Dr. Jules Oppert, all worked independent
of each other on the contents of their sealed envelopes. A remarkable unanimity resulted. Their
translations were almost the same. It was obvious to all, or at least it should
have been, that cuneiform was no longer an undecipherable language. “The truth is that a considerable section of
the learned world continued to doubt
the work of Rawlinson and the other leading Assyriologists until almost the end
of the 19th. century.” (18)
Even Lord Macaulay rejected the work of Rawlinson as “utterly spurious.” But
today it is universally acknowledged that his translation and those of his fellow linguists was
substantially correct.
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The Final word.....
Sir Henry Rawlinson ( for he was knighted in 1891) became a Lieutenant-colonel in 1851, a
member of the board of the East India Company in 1856, and was elected to the
British Parliament on two occasions. ( 1858; 1865-1868) He died on
March 5: 1895.
Today one can visit the Behistun Rock
( unless there is a war raging !) and sit in a Persian tea-shop at the foot of
this historic site. Beneath a colourful
awning at a wooden table ...and even drinking Coca –cola (!) ... one can study
the printing on the rock-face through
field glasses as Rawlinson did through his telescope over a century and a half
ago. (19)
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BIBLIOGRAPHY.
(1)
Voices from the Past by A. Eisenberg. p.15. ( Abelard-Schuman 1959)
(2)
Internet...Behistun Rock
(3)
Junior Bible Archaeology. By H. Morsely. P.72.
(Epworth Press 1952)
(4)
The Biblical World . by C.F. Pfeiffer p. 138.
(Baker Book House. 1966)
(5)
Eisenberg. p. 15.
(6)
National
Geographic Mag. December 1950. (p.831).
(7)
Gods, Graves and Scholars by C.W. Ceram. ( p. 230)
(Gollanz Pub. 1952)
(8)
Monuments of the Old
Testament ...by Ira
Price. (p. 43-44.) ( Judson Press
1900)
(9)
The Romance of Excavation by David Masters. (p. 109) ( Bodley Head 1923.)
(10)
Eyewitness To
Discovery. Edited by B. Fegan.
(pp100-104) ( Oxford Uni. Press. 1996)
(11)
Buried History; Quarterly Journal published by Australian Institute of
Archaeology. June 1971. ( p.
42-43)
(12)
Fegan. ( p.102)
(13)
Buried History. . ( p. 43)
(14)
Masters.
(p. 118)
(15)
Archaeological Diggings....a bi-monthly magazine
devoted to Biblical archaeology. Edited by D.Down. ( Dec. 1995 issue. p. 23)
(16)
By the Waters of Babylon by J. Wellard. (p. 75) (
Hutchinson 1972.)
(17)
Ibid.
( p. 78-79)
(18)
Ibid. ( p. 81)
(19)
Ibid.
(p. 70)
...................................................................................................
Also consulted were :-
The New International
Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology.
( Editor: E. Blaiklock. ( Zondervan Pub.. 1983.)
1000 Heroes ... edited by Arthur Mee. (p. 533)
Amalgamated Press. No date given.
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