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GROTEFEND,
GEORG
FRIEDRICH
(b.
9
June
1775
in
Hannoversch-Münden,
d.
15
December
1853
in
Hannover),
German
philologist
and
scholar
of
oriental
studies.
His
father,
Johann
Christian
Grotefend,
was
the
head
of
the
shoemakers
guild
in
Hannoversch-Münden.
In
1795
Grotefend
enrolled
at
the
University
of
Göttingen
to
study
theology
and
philology.
Having
already
worked
at
a
grammar
school
in
his
student
days,
he
chose
teaching
as
a
career
and
remained
a
teacher
all
his
life,
first
in
Göttingen,
then
in
Frankfurt
on
the
Main,
and
from
1821
as
the
director
of
the
Lyceum
in
Hannover.
Grotefend's
first
publication
was
a
paper
concerning
"a
universal
script"
(Commentatio
de
pasigraphia
sive
scriptura
universali,
Göttingen,
1799).
Grotefend
worked
also
on
German,
the
classical
languages,
historical
geography,
numismatics,
and
problems
of
education.
He
made
pioneering
studies
important
to
the
understanding
of
Lycian
and
Phrygian
texts
(1833)
as
well
as
the
languages
of
ancient
Italy
(1835-39;
1839;
1840-42).
He
was
also
involved
in
founding
the
Monumenta
Germaniae
Historica.
Grotefend
gained
fame
as
a
scholar
for
his
successful
attempt
to
decipher
the
Old
Persian
variant
of
the
cuneiform
script
found
on
the
Persepolis
inscriptions
(Wiesehöfer,
pp.
231-38).
Assuming
that
these
were
inscriptions
of
the
Achaemenid
kings,
he
was
able
to
ascertain
the
approximate
phonic
values
of
about
ten
signs
by
following
the
pattern
of
the
Sasanian
royal
inscriptions
in
Middle
Persian,
which
had
been
deciphered
only
a
few
years
earlier
by
Antoine
Silvestre
de
Sacy.
On
4
September
1802
he
presented
his
paper
"Praevia
de
cuneatis,
quas
vocant,
inscriptionibus
Persepolitanis
legendis
et
explicandis
relatio"
(Preliminary
report
on
the
reading
and
interpretation
of
the
so-called
cuneiform
inscriptions
from
Persepolis)
to
the
Göttingen
Academy
of
Sciences,
followed
by
three
more
papers
(notices
by
Tychsen;
cf.
de
Sacy,
esp.
pp.
456
ff.).
The
first
account
published
by
Grote-fend
himself
was
"Ueber
die
Erklärung
der
Keil-schriften,
und
besonders
der
Inschriften
von
Persepolis,"
in
A.
H.
L.
Heeren,
Ideen
über
die
Politik,
den
Verkehr
und
den
Handel
der
vornehmsten
Völker
der
alten
Welt
I,
2nd
ed.,
Göttingen
1805,
pp.
931-58
(3rd
ed.,
1815,
pp.
564-603;
4th
ed.,
1824,
pp.
325-61).
The
full
text
of
the
four
papers
was
published
much
later
by
Meyer
(1893),
and
a
facsimile
of
the
first
one
has
recently
been
published
by
Riekele
Borger
(1975).
Grotefend
regarded
himself
only
as
the
decipherer
of
the
texts
and
did
not
attempt
to
interpret
them
from
philological
and
historical
viewpoints.
His
efforts
at
understanding
the
cuneiform
script,
however,
laid
a
foundation
for
other
scholars
to
build
upon
by
referring
to
related
languages
and
using
additional
texts
(see
Borger,
1975-78).
Grotefend
published
a
few
more
papers
dealing
with
Old
Persian
inscriptions.
His
later
publications
on
cuneiform
texts,
however,
are
rather
insignificant
and
often
misleading,
due
to
his
lack
of
necessary
knowledge
of
the
relevant
Oriental
languages.
Bibliography:
Other
works
of
Grotefend
related
to
Iran
include:
Erläuterung
der
Keilinschriften
babylonischer
Backsteine,
Hannover,
1852;
Erläuterung
der
babylonischen
Keilinschriften
aus
Behistun,
Göttingen,
1853.
R.
Borger,
"Grotefends
erste
'Praevia,'"
in
R.
Borger
et
al.,
Die
Welt
des
Alten
Orients:
Keilschrift
–
Grabungen
–
Gelehrte,
Göttingen,
1975,
pp.
157-84.
Idem,
"Die
Entzifferungsgeschichte
der
altpersischen
Keilschrift
nach
Grotefends
ersten
Erfolgen,"
Persica
7,
1975-78,
pp.
7-19.
D.
O.
Edzard,
Neue
Deutsche
Biographie
VII,
1966,
pp.
164-65.
J.
Flemming,
"Der
literarische
Nachlass
Grotefend's,"
Beiträge
zur
Assyriologie
und
vergleichenden
semitischen
Sprachwissenschaft
1,
1890,
pp.
80-93
(with
bibliography).
H.
Gro-tefend,
Allgemeine
Deutsche
Biographie
9,
1879,
pp.
763-65.
W.
Meyer,
"G.
Fr.
Grotefends
erste
Nachricht
von
seiner
Entzifferung
der
Keilschrift,"
Nachr.
der
Königlichen
Gesellschaft
der
Wissenschaften
zu
Göttingen
1893,
pp.
571-616;
repr.
Darmstadt,
1972.
A.
I.
S.
de
Sacy,
"Lettre
aà
M.
Millin
sur
les
inscriptions
des
monumens
Perse‚politains,"
Magasin
Encyclope‚dique
8,
1803,
pp.
438-67.
Th.
Ch.
Tychsen,
Göttingische
Gelehrte
Anzeigen,
1802,
pp.
1481-87,
1769-72;
1803,
pp.
593-95,
1161-64.
J.
Wiesehöfer,
Ancient
Persia,
London,
1996.
H.
Wilsdorf,
"Die
Entzifferung
der
Keilschrift
vor
150
Jahren
durch
Georg
Friedrich
Grotefend,"
Wissenschaftliche
Annalen
1,
1952,
pp.
565-76.
(Rüdiger
Schmitt)
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