Edward Hincks
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Edward Hincks (19 August 1792 – 3 December 1866) was an Irish clergyman, best remembered as an
Early life
Edward Hincks was born in
Edward Hincks was educated at home by his father and at
The undemanding nature of his clerical duties left him with more than enough time to pursue his interest in ancient languages. His first love was for the hieroglyphic writing of ancient
Writing
In the 1830s he turned his attention to
In 1835 he supervised the unrolling of the mummified body of
In 1839 and 1846 he published on Egyptian Chronology, identifying Thutmose III, who Manetho called Memphres, with Menophres, who Theon of Alexandria had said reigned at the start of the Egyptian Great Year – a reference to what is known as the "Era of Menophres".[2]
Achievements
Hincks' greatest achievement was the decipherment of the ancient language and writing of Babylon and Assyria: Akkadian cuneiform but his attention might never have been drawn to the relatively new topic of Assyriology had it not been for a lucky find during 1842.
During that year the archaeologist
Hincks deduced correctly that cuneiform writing had been invented by one of the earliest civilisations of Mesopotamia (a people later identified by Oppert as the Sumerians), who then bequeathed it to later states such as Babylon, Assyria and Elam. In 1848 he was awarded the Cunningham Medal of the Royal Irish Academy for his achievements.[3]
By 1850 Hincks had come to a number of important conclusions regarding the nature of Assyro-Babylonian cuneiform. He believed that the script was essentially syllabic, comprising open syllables (e.g. "ab" or "ki") as well as more complex closed syllables (e.g. "mur"). He also discovered that cuneiform characters were "polyphonic," by which he meant that a single sign could have several different readings depending on the context in which it occurred.
By now Hincks had recognised a large number of determinatives and had correctly established their readings. But not everyone was convinced by the claims being made by the Irishman and his distinguished colleagues. Some philologists even suggested that they were simply inventing multiple readings of the signs to suit their own translations.
In 1857 the versatile English Orientalist
As it happened, Talbot and the "holy trinity of cuneiform" – Hincks, Rawlinson and Oppert – were in London in 1857.
In all essential points the translations produced by the four scholars were found to be in close agreement with one another. There were of course some slight discrepancies. The inexperienced Talbot had made a number of mistakes, and Oppert's translation contained a few doubtful passages due to his unfamiliarity with the English language. But Hincks' and Rawlinson's versions were virtually identical. The jury declared itself satisfied, and the decipherment of cuneiform was adjudged a fait accompli.
The Reverend Edward Hincks devoted the remaining years of his life to the study of cuneiform and made further significant contributions to its decipherment. He died at his rectory in Killyleagh on 3 December 1866 at the age of 74. He was survived by a wife and four daughters.
References
- ^ Kevin J. Cathcart, ed., The Correspondence of Edward Hincks: 1818–1849 (2007), p. 3: "He received his boyhood education from his father in Cork and at school in Midleton, Co. Cork, where Midleton College exists to this day. In 1807, being fifteen years old, he entered Trinity College, Dublin."
- S2CID 163249880– via JSTOR.
- )
- M.L. Bierbrier, "Hincks, Edward (1792–1866)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
- Cathcart, K.J. (ed.), 1994 The Edward Hincks Centenary Lectures. x + 227 + 8 (plates) pp. Department of Near Eastern Languages, Dublin.
- Cathcart, K.J. (ed.), 2007 The Correspondence of Edward Hincks: 1818–1849 Volume 1. University College Dublin Press. ISBN 978-1904558705
- Davidson, E. F. 1933 Edward Hincks, A Selection from His Correspondence with a Memoir Oxford (has a portrait).
External links
- 1839 Internet Archive On the Years and Cycles Used by the Ancient Egyptians. Dublin, The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy.
- 1846 Internet Archive On the Age of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Manetho. Dublin, The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy.
- 1846 Internet Archive On the First and Second Kinds of Persepolitan Writing. Dublin, Gill
- 1850 Internet Archive On the Khorsabad Inscriptions Dublin, Gill
- 1863 Internet Archive On the Polyphony of the Assyrio-Babylonian Cuneiform Writing: A Letter to Professor Renouf. Dublin John F. Fowler
- 1865 Internet Archive On the various years and months in use among the Egyptians Dublin, Gill.
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