Rawlinson, H. C., Outline of the History of Assyria. London, 1852.—Records of the Past (Birch, S.). London, 1873, 12 vols.—Revue d’Assyriologie. Paris, 1886, etc.—Rich, C. I., Babylonia and Persepolis: Memoirs on the Ruins of Babylon. London, 1818.—Robertson, H. S., Voices of the Past from Assyria and Babylonia. London, 1900.—Rogers, R. W., History of Babylonia and Assyria. London, 1901, 2 vols.
Sachau, E., Reise in Syrien und Mesopotamien. Leipsic, 1885; Am Euphrat und Tigris. Leipsic, 1900.—Sarzec, G. C. E., de, Découvertes en Chaldée. Paris, 1884-1893, 2 vols.
Gustave Charles Ernest Chocquin de Sarzec was born 11th August, 1836. After the discoveries of Botta and Layard had shown the scientific world what neglected treasure-houses were to be found in Mesopotamia, it was natural that explorers should seek out the other fields of ancient activity, in particular those to the south in Old Babylonia, and yet older Chaldea. Among those who went into the latter field most successfully was M. de Sarzec. His explorations at Tello, one of the oldest seats of Mesopotamian civilisation revealed a vast quantity of most interesting antiquities of a type in many ways different from those of the comparatively recent Assyrian period. In particular the statues in the round, which seem to have been a common form of artistic expression with the ancient Chaldeans, have interest because of their difference from the bas-reliefs that were the favourite sculptures of the artists of Nineveh. In the interpretation of the large store of material which De Sarzec secured he had had the assistance of M. Layon Heuzey and M. Amiaud.
Sayce, A. H., Lectures on the Religions of Ancient Assyria and Babylonia. London, 1888; Ancient Empires of the East. London, 1884; Assyria: its Princes, Priests, and People. London, 1882; Babylonians and Assyrians: Life and Customs. New York, 1899; Social Life among the Assyrians. London, 1893; Primer of Assyriology. London, 1894; The Races of the Old Testament. London, 1891; Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments. London, 1884.
Archibald Henry Sayce, born at Shirehampton, near Bristol, 25th September, 1846. Deputy Professor of comparative Philology at Oxford from 1876 to 1890; at present Professor of Assyriology at Oxford. The well-known Oxford Professor has been one of the most versatile and active of orientalists. He seems equally at home whether the field be Egypt, Mesopotamia, or Assyria, and he is a writer of such indefatigable industry that scholarly works on one subject or another are constantly coming from his pen. Professor Sayce is by no means a closet student only but is a traveller of wide experience, and latterly it has become his custom to spend his winters and springs house-boating in Egypt. He has a rare merit of combining the utmost scholarship with a capacity for clear presentation of his subject, and his works are therefore almost as well known to the general reader as they are to the specialist. In each generation there are but a few men who combining these traits act as interpreters between the land of scholarship and the abiding place of ordinary mortals and among these in our generation Professor Sayce takes a foremost rank.
Saulcy, L. F. J. C., de, Recherches sur la chronologie des empires de Ninive, de Babylone et d’Ekbatane. Paris, 1854.—Schäfer, B., Die Entdeckungen in Assyrien und Aegypten in ihrer Beziehung zur heiligen Schrift. Wien, 1896.—Schmidt, V., Assyriens of Aegyptens gamle Historie. Copenhagen, 1872-1877.—Schrader, E., Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament. London, 1873, 2 vols.; Die Höllenfahrt der Istar ein altbabylon. Epos; Giessen, 1874; Eine Sammlung von Übersetzungen der wichtigsten Texte (Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek). Berlin, 1889-1901, vols. 1-6; Keilinschriften und Geschichtsforschung. Giessen, 1878.
Eberhard Schrader was born at Brunswick, Germany, 5th January, 1836. He studied at the gymnasium in Brunswick and in the University at Göttingen. Shortly after finishing his studies in Göttingen he was appointed Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages at Zürich, and later he filled corresponding chairs at Giessen and Jena. In 1875 he was given a professorship and made a member of the Royal Academy at Berlin. He also edited Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek. Only a few of his works have been translated into English, most notable among these being The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament.
Smith, G., Assyrian Discoveries. London, 1875; Assyria, from the Earliest Times. London, 1875; The Chaldean Genesis. London, 1881; The History of Babylon. London, 1877; History of Sennacherib (from inscriptions). London, 1878; History of Asshurbanipal (from inscriptions). London, 1871; Assyria from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Nineveh. New York, 1876.
George Smith was born in London, England, 26th March, 1840. He is said to have first become interested in Assyriology from having to engrave some cuneiform plates for publication. He at once took up the study, and a little later was appointed to a position in the Assyrian department of the British Museum. He very soon became one of the great promoters of Assyriology. With Sir Henry Rawlinson he edited vols. III-IV of The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia. In 1872 he discovered among the clay books of the British Museum fragments of a story of the Deluge, similar to the biblical version. Soon after this he visited Nineveh to make further search for clay books in Asshurbanapal’s palace, and his expedition was very successful. The Deluge story proved to be part of a great poem written on twelve tablets. He made two other expeditions for the Museum, but on the last one was stricken with fever and died at Aleppo, 19th August, 1876. George Smith was known among orientalists as a man who had a peculiar instinct for the translation of obscure texts. He devoted his entire life to oriental studies, and came to be recognised as one of the foremost of orientalists.
Spiegel, F., Die altpersischen Keilinschriften 2nd ed. Leipsic, 1881.—Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. London, 1854, 3 vols.—Strassmaier, J. N., Babylonische Texte. Leipsic, 1889; Inschriften von Nabuchodonosor, König von Babylon (609-561). Leipsic, 1889.—Streck, M., Die alte Landschaft Babylonien nach den arabischen Geographen. Leyden, 1900, 2 vols.
Talbot, W. H. Fox (in Records of the Past). London, 1856, 18 vols.; Inscription of Tiglath Pileser I, King of Assyria, B.C. 1150 (in Jour. Royal Asiatic Soc.). London, 1857.
William Henry Fox Talbot was born 11th February, 1800, at Laycock Abbey, near Chippenham, England. He was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge, gaining the Porson prize there in 1820. Contributed papers to the Royal Society in 1822, and in the same year began a series of optical researches and experiments which afterward played an important part in photography. In connection with his scientific studies he devoted much of his time to the study of archeology, and in later life gave his entire time to it. He shares the honour with Sir Henry Rawlinson and Dr. Hincks of being one of the first to decipher the cuneiform inscriptions of Nineveh. He died at Laycock Abbey, 17th September, 1877. Talbot was a master in the field of Assyriology. He was, indeed, one of the first to gain distinction in this line, and in a peculiar sense one of the founders of the science.