Hormuzd Rassam, Further musings on the British Musem and its Curators

Continuing on from my last article about the British Museum.
I came across two other names whilst reading Irving Finkle’s “The Ark Before Noah”. They were Henry Rawlinson and Austen Henry Layard. It reminded me of the story of Hormuzd Rassam and the Assyrian Lion Hunt reliefs.
Layard was well-known for his archaeological finds in Nineveh and Nimrud. He worked on a number of excavations during the 1840s, including Nineveh. Whilst he was in Mosul he met Rassam who helped him with his work. When Layard left the British Museum for a life in politics they needed someone to work on excavations out round Nineveh. The best person they knew was Rassam. He wanted to continue Layard’s work but he knew he didn’t have the full confidence of the British Museum, being and Iraqi and not a British gentleman. They knew they could rely on Rawlinson, the British consul in Bagdad. Rassam was supposed to be answerable to Rawlinson, but in reality worked by himself.

Hormuzd Rassam in Mosul c. 1854

Rawlinson made an agreement with a French archaeologist called Victor Place. Despite being the British consul, Rawlinson gave Place permission to dig in Nineveh. Rassam was opposed to this. He believed that under a large mound on the Northern site of Nineveh there was a concealed Assyrian palace. He wanted to claim the find for Britain rather than France.

Without telling Rawlinson Rassam decided to carry out excavations on the mound. To avoid detection from Place they worked through the night. Initially he was concerned as they were only making small finds. On the third night however he made a breakthrough. They found a base relief. As the basic law of finders keepers prevailed at that time amongst archaeologists, no one could force him off the site. They went on to find the stone slabs of the royal palace. An amazing find.

Rassam also came across some cuneiform inscriptions, which he couldn’t decipher. He sent these off to Rawlinson, who was then able to ascertain the name of the king of the palace. It turned out to be the great and powerful King Ashurbanipal, also known for being a literary king with a famous library.

Sadly Rassam never got the credit or notice he deserved, most likely because being Iraqi he didn’t quite fit into the British establishment.

Sculpted reliefs depicting Ashurbanipal, the last great Assyrian king, hunting lions, gypsum hall relief from the North Palace of Nineveh (Iraq), c. 645-635 BC, British Museum