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\u201cMy antiquarian studies go on quietly and smoothly, and despite the taunt which you may remember once expressing, of the presumption of an ignoramus like myself attempting to decipher inscriptions which had baffled for centuries the most learned men in Europe, I have made very considerable progress\u2026I aspire to do for the cuneiform alphabet what Champollion has done for the hieroglyphics.\u201d\xa0 \u2013 Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, July 1836 (writing to his sister Maria)\nIn 1836, Henry Creswicke Rawlinson \u2013 British soldier, adventurer and Orientalist \u2013 first encountered the Behistun Inscription.\xa0 He would devote the next few decades to deciphering its three cuneiform scripts.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices