Page:Discovery and Decipherment of the Trilingual Cuneiform Inscriptions.djvu/282

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THE PERSIAN COLUMN
253

are of exceptional value and accuracy. On his return to Bonn he gave Lassen his copies of the first or Persian column; and reserved to himself the study of the second or Susian column. In the following year (1844) the two scholars published the results of their labours in the 'Zeitschrift,' and their Memoirs afterwards appeared together in a separate volume under the title 'Ueber die Keilinschriften der Ersten und Zweiten Gattung, von Chr. Lassen und N. L. Westergaard' (Bonn, 1845).

Six years had now elapsed since Lassen published his first Memoir. During the interval Beer and Jacquet had made their contributions to the general knowledge; and although Major Rawlinson had not yet published his Memoir on the Behistun inscription, he had been in correspondence with Lassen since 1838, and had already corrected two letters. It is interesting therefore to inquire how far Lassen profited by these investiga- tions. We have seen that he had nine incorrect values in 1836 for the letters in Niebuhr's list.[1]^ These were:

16 () i 28 () n

19 () k 32 () g

25 () with u=ô 33 () n

26 () i 40 () n

27 () i

By 1844 he corrected the four following:

(1) 25 ()into q, an approximate value for k.

(2) 26 () into θ, following Jacquet th.

(3) 27 () into j for y. following Beer and Jacquet.

(4) 40 () into r, following Jacquet.[2]

  1. See above, p. 226.
  2. So late as 1839, he could not bring himself to give up 'Ochus' in the Murgab inscription, although he fell greatly shaken by the arguments of Jacquet in support of 'Kurus.' He ended by leaving 25 () unaltered, but changed 40 () from s into gh (Zeitscrift, ii. 169-71). His acceptance of the correct value, r, appears in 1844; and the approximate value of q for 25 () k making 'Qurus' for 'Kurus.'