Grotefend, GEORG FRIEDRICH

Grotefend, GEORG FRIEDRICH, the first who found a key to the decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions, was born at Münden in Hanover, June 9, 1775, and had his education at the university of Göttingen. He filled scholastic appointments at Göttingen, Frankfort-on-the-Main, and Hanover, and died 15th December 1853. He wrote learned books and papers on Latin, Umbrian, and Oscan philology, coins of Bactria, &c., but made for himself an enduring fame by deciphering the cuneiform alphabet—an intuition of genius—first given forth in 1802. Later works on this subject were Neue Beiträge zur Erläuterung der Persepolitänischen Keilschrift (1837), and Neue Beiträge zur Erläuterung der Babylonischen Keilschrift (1840). See CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS.—His son, KARL LUDWIG GROTEFEND, an eminent antiquary and historian, was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 22d December 1809, studied at Göttingen University, and filled from 1853 a post in the Royal Archives at Hanover. He died 27th October 1874. His works are of the greatest value for numismatics and Roman epigraphy, the chief being Die Münzen der Griechischen, Parthischen, und Indoskythischen Könige von Baktrien (1839), Imperium Romanum tributum Descriptum (1863), and Chronologische Anordnung der Athenischen Silbermünzen (1872). His historical papers are mostly contained in the Zeitschrift des historischen Vereins für Niedersachsen (1850-74).—FRIEDRICH AUGUST GROTEFEND, nephew of the great Grotefend, was born at Ilfeld, 12th December 1798, studied at Göttingen University, and afterwards became a professor there. He died 28th February 1836. His writings are mostly solid contributions to Latin philology.