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Charles Bellino and the Beginnings of Assyriology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2014
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On 12th November 1820 died in Mosul a little known young man named Carl, or Charles, Bellino. Aged only 29, he had already taken a serious place among those who laid the foundations of the study of cuneiform. Yet already in 1890 a German scholar writing an important study of its decipherment by Grotefend, confessed that he had almost no information about Bellino's life and career. As my German and Austrian friends and colleagues, (notably Professor K. Bittel, who felt a special interest in his young fellow-Württemberger), had most helpfully provided me with interesting fresh material about this young pioneer scholar of Mesopotamian studies, linked closely with England, I here offer it combined with other gleanings in the form of a brief biography in honour of Sir Max Mallowan. This will, I hope, supplement the very short accounts which are all that at present are available in print.
Carl Bellino was born on 21 January 1791 at the little town of Rottenburg (or Rothenburg) on the lovely river Neckar, near Tubingen in the then Kingdom of Württemberg, as the eldest of five children of Franz Josef Bellino (b. 1762) a silk and salt merchant and senator of that town and his first wife Anna Maria Beck, daughter of the postmaster of Günzburg. Franz Josef was himself born at Buchhorn (now called Friedrichshafen) in 1762 and was connected with Michael Bellini, a merchant of Venetian origin from Amsterdam who married Elizabeth Bianchi (or Weiss) at Heilbronn in 1727.
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- Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1974
References
1 Joh. Flemming, Der literarische Nachlass C. F. Grotefends (mit Portrait) (BA I (1890), 80 ff.).
2 I have to thank Professor Bittel especially for the initial encouragement during my visit to Berlin in 1968, and for putting me in touch with Dr. Kurt Bellino, Göppingen, Württemberg, who furnished me with valuable information and the picture of C. Bellino; also Baroness Cleo Hammer-Purgstall for permitting me to publish letters of C. Bellino and C. J. Rich in the archives at Schloss Hainfeld, near Vienna; and Mme. Gisèle d'Ailly van der Gracht for identifying and partly copying them and for other help; Professor Franz Sauer, Chairman of the Hammer-Purgstall Gesellschaft, Graz branch; Professor Ernst Weidner, Graz; and Dr. Helga Seeden (Beyrout) who greatly helped me by transcribing several of these letters and documents in older German script. I am also indebted to Mr. C. B. F. Walker and Mr. J. E. Curtis for checking and adding many important points.
3 Articles specifically devoted to Bellino are: Rothacker, , Athenäum berühmter Gelehrter Württembergs (1830) 92–101Google Scholar; Fr. Babinger, Zur Geschichte der Keilschriftentzifferung: Karl Bellino und Joh. Friedrich Hugo von Dalberg (ZA 32 (1919), 201 ff.Google Scholar); Memminger, J. D. G., Bellino, Karl, Württembergische Jahrbücher für vaterländische Geschichte, Geographie, Statistik und Topographie Jahrg. 1923, Erster Heft, 72–80Google Scholar; Bittel, K., Bellino, Karl, Sonderdruck der Türkischen Post, 16 01 1943Google Scholar; Pallis, A., Early Exploration in Ancient Mesopotamia (Copenhagen, 1950–1954)Google Scholar. Other references, included in various articles on other subjects, are cited below.
4 His name is so written by himself with a “C” never with a “K”.
5 Details of the family tree are in A. Bühl, Regierungspresident von Bellino: Gedenkblatt zu seinem 100. Geburtstag: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Familie Bellino, Tübinger Chronik und Steinlachbote (Tübingen, Friday, 4 11 1927 83rd. yearGoogle Scholar), no. 258, 21 (by kindness of Dr. K. Bellino).
6 Information from photocopy kindly provided by Dr. K. Bellino.
7 See articles, Dr. Karl Ludwig Weber, J. Hammer-Purgstalls Leben und Werke, and Professor Dr. Franz Babinger, J. v. Hammers Verdienst in die morgenlandische Studien, in Dr.Artman, Franz (editor) Hammer-Purgstall in Klosterneuberg-Weidling (Klosterneuburg, 1959)Google Scholar; also Babinger, F., art. Hammer-Purgstall in Österrekhisches Biographisches Lexikon (Vienna, 1958)Google Scholar.
8 Von Hammer calls him more than once “mein Schützling” (unpublished sections of his Erinnerungen, MS. Schloss Hainfeld XXIX/III/21 and XXXI/116/21, kindly communicated by Mme Gisèle d'Ailly van der Gracht).
9 Copies of his certificates in civil and criminal law, in European and Austrian political science and languages for the years 1812–1814, kindly supplied by Dr. K. Bellino.
10 Alexander, Constance M., Baghdad in Bygone Days (London, 1928)Google Scholar. Her account recombined with others is retold felicitously by Lloyd, Seton, Foundations in the Dust; a Story of Mesopotamian Exploration (Oxford, 1947)Google Scholar.
11 This statement is based on information from the late Mr. J. R. F. Thompson, formerly clerical officer in the Department of Oriental Printed Books and MSS. of the British Museum, who kindly assisted in preparing the section relating to C. J. Rich in the exhibition relating to the early history of Assyriology, entitled Layard and his Successors, held in the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities of the British Museum, July–August 1963.
12 Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon (Mines de l'Orient 3 (1813), 197 ff.)Google Scholar. For his Second Memoir (London, 1818), see note 30Google Scholar; it was republished posthumously as Narrative of a journey to the site of Babylon in 1811: Second Memoir on the Ruins (London, 1839)Google Scholar.
(Mines de l'Orient/Fundgruben des Orients, Vienna, 6 vols. 1810–1819Google Scholar (edited by Joseph von Hammer with the financial support of Count Rzewuski). Bearbeitet durch eine Gesellschaft von Liebhabern auf Veranstaltung des Herrn Grafen Wenceslaus Rzewuski: German, French, English, Italian, Latin editions.)
13 By kind permission and help of Baroness Cleo Hammer-Purgstall, Professor Franz Sauer and Mme. Gisèle d'Ailly van der Gracht.
14 For the identification and discussion of his gifts to the Archduke, see E. Unger, Der Beginn der altmesopotamischen Siegelbildforschung (Österreichische Akad. Wiss. phil. hist. Kl. Sitzb. (Vienna, 1958), 250 Bd., 2 Abh.)Google Scholar.
15 G. M. Alexander, op. cit., note 10, 246. The authoress makes no reference to Rich's considerable contribution to Bellino's salary.
16 Photocopy kindly supplied by Dr. K. Bellino.
17 Photocopy kindly supplied by Dr. K. Bellino.
18 See note 3.
19 See note 10.
20 Mines de l'Orient 5 (1816), 45Google Scholar.
21 Bruckstücke aus den Briefen eines Württembergers an seine Freunde im Vaterlande, Morgenblatt für gebildete Stände (Tübingen), no. 309, pp. 1233–4, 1236Google Scholar (Monday 27 December 1819) = letter from Baghdad, dated 27 September 1816; no. 310, pp. 1238–9, letter Baghdad dated 22 March 1816; and no. 311 (Wednesday 29 December 1819) pp. 1241–3, letters from Baghdad dated 22 March 1816 (sic) (continued), 8 April and 13 August 1817. These letters—or rather the extracts published, are mainly of very minor general interest.
22 See note 21, letter dated 22 March 1816, Baghdad: (this date seems incorrect, as according to G. M. Alexander they did not reach Baghdad till early May, which fits the temperature better. Most probably he began his letter at the earlier date when still at Mosul, but completed it only later.
23 Photocopy of letter by courtesy of Dr. K. Bellino: here translated from the German.
24 For details of Wolf's career, see the Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 62, s.v. Wolff.
25 Heude, Lieutenant William, A Voyage up the Persian Gulf and a Journey overland from India to England in 1817 (London, 1819)Google Scholar. He calls Bellino “Seignior Balino”.
26 Buckingham, J. S., Travels in Mesopotamia, (London, 1827), 390–1Google Scholar.
27 Ibid., 395–495.
28 Ibid., 394.
29 Lloyd, S., Foundations in the Dust, 67Google Scholar.
30 Rich, C. J., Second Memoir on Babylon, containing an inquiry into the correspondence between the ancient descriptions of Babylon and the remains still visible on the site (London, 1818)Google Scholar.
31 Barnett, R. D., Sir Robert Ker Porter—Regency artist and traveller (Iran 10 (1972)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
32 Extract from letter dated from Baghdad, 7 November 1818 with later P.S. From photocopy supplied by courtesy of Baroness Cleo Hammer-Purgstall with the aid of Professor Sauer; translated from the German. The rest of the letter, which I have omitted, is devoted to a discussion of words of ptions the Çagatai Turkish language.
33 Letters of 14.2.1819, 14.5.1819, and 20.10.1819 from Baghdad, published in Appendix 1. I owe my knowledge of these letters to the kindness of Mr. M. D. Ancketill, and I record my thanks to the secretary of the Library for permission to publish them.
34 Flemming, loc. cit., 83.
35 In the Hammer-Purgstall archives, Schloss Hainfeld. Information by courtesy of Mme. Gisèle d'Ailly van der Gracht. Unfortunately I have been unable to obtain copies of these except that of 7.11.1818. Other letters of Bellino are referred to by von Hammer in his obituary of Bellino described in note 46.
36 Flemming, loc. cit., 83.
37 G. Grotefend, Beweis dass alle babylonische Keilschrift … zu einerlei Schriftgattung und Sprache gehore. (Mines de l'Orient 6 (1818)Google Scholar, Pl. B. (Inscr. Neb. 9 = 1R 65, 66); idem, Neue Beiträge zur Erlaüterung der persepolitanischen Keilschrift, (1837) Pl. IV & Pl. I; idem, Urkunden in babylonischen Keilschrift (ZKM 1–3 (1837–42)); idem, Bemerkungen zur Inschrift eines Thongefässes … (Abh. d. k. Ges. Wiss. Göttingen 4 (1848-50), Bellino cylinder). Borger, Rykle, Handbuch der Keilschriftliteratur I, 165, 221, 415, 427Google Scholar. See also below, notes 54, 60, 61.
38 Charles Bellino, Account of the Progress made in deciphering Cuneiform Inscriptions (with 3 drawings), read 30 June, Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay, 2 (1820), 170–193Google Scholar. C.M. Alexander (op. cit., note 10, p. 247) claims that he “contributed several articles during the next few years to this periodical”, but this is incorrect.
39 Pallis, A., The Antiquity of Iraq, 110Google Scholar, knows this article.
40 For Rich's letter, see Appendix 2.
41 C. M. Alexander, op. cit., 287.
42 Photograph kindly supplied by Dr. K. Bellino.
43 Rich's account was published posthumously by his widow, Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan and on the site of ancient Nineveh (London, 1836)Google Scholar; see also C. M. Alexander, op. cit.
44 Published by Grotefend, , Neue Beiträge zur Erläuterung der persepolitanischen Keilschrift (Hanover, 1837), Pl. ivGoogle Scholar.
45 See Rich's letter to Freiin von Hohenbruck, here in Appendix 2.
46 Von Hammer, in his obituary of Bellino in Graeffer, Conversationsblatt, dritter Jahrgang, no. 32, 373–377 (Vienna, 1821) thanks the dead man for his help in compiling the index of his own (von Hammer's) work Des Osmanischen Reichs Staatsverfassung und Staatsverwaltung (Vienna, 1815)Google Scholar and the relevant literature. The epitaph has its echo in the terse Hodie mihi, eras tibi which I noted on the tombstone of one of the factors of the Levant Company at Ankara (see fordicoming article in Anatolian Studies).
47 Private letter from Professor K. Bittel, dated 19.2.1969.
48 Niebuhr, G., Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und andern umliegenden Ländern (Copenhagen, 1778)Google Scholar.
49 Schulz's copies of Urartian inscriptions at Van were not published till 1840; Schulz, F. E., Memoir sur le lac de Van et ses environs (Journal Asiatique (Paris, 1840), 257–323)Google Scholar.
50 On his brief career in Assyria, see my Catalogue of the Nimrud Ivories (British Museum, 1957), 21–23Google Scholar; and article in the Dictionary of National Biography.
51 Budge, E. A. W., By Nile and Tigris (London, 1920)Google Scholar; idem, Rise and Progress of Assyriology (London, 1925).
52 Obituary, The Times 25.8.1919; Who Was Who.
53 G. F. Grotefend, On cuneiform writing in general and the Inscriptions of Persepolis in particular, was inserted as an appendix to Heeren, A., Die Ideen über die Politik, den Verkehr und den Handel der vornehmsten Völker der Allen Welt (2nd ed., 1805)Google Scholar; in the 3rd ed. (1815) it was republished together with Grotefend's second paper on Pasargadae and the Tomb of Cyrus.
54 This is Bellino's or Ker Porter's humorous appellation of the Seleucid contract dated in the 9th year of Alexander IV (308 B.C.) bearing several seal impressions, perhaps from Larsa: now BM. 68610 (obtained from the Stewart Collection, 1841), and published by Layard, ICC, no. 80a, and first by Ker Porter, Travels …, II, Pl. 77 (g), clearly from Bellino's copy. As will be seen from Bellino's remarks below, it was then in the hands of an Armenian collector. It is the second earliest Babylonian tablet found in modern times, the earliest apparently being a late Babylonian tablet BM. 30040 published in Rich's Second Memoir … as no. 5, Plate 9, drawn presumably by Bellino.
55 “At Al-Khymer” (Kish) “Mr. Bellino found a fragment of black marble containing an inscription in cuneiform”: Porter, Ker, Travels, II, 395Google Scholar, Pl. 77(h). The inscription (BM. 93029) is published by L. W. King, Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, no. 67.
56 See note 48.
57 G. F. Grotefend, op. cit., note 36 (Mines de l'Orient 6 (1818), 143–62Google Scholar).
58 Not identified.
59 Not identified.
60 This is clearly the so-called “Bellino Cylinder”, actually a biconical clay “prism” (BM. 22502). Rich writes to von Hammer from Baghdad on 5 April 1819 about the discovery of this inscription at Nebi Yunus (for his letter, see Appendix 2). In fact, von Hammer never published the Bellino cylinder or the relief in Mines de l'Orient, and it was left to Grotefend to do this in 1848–50 from Bellino's copy (see above, note 37). Fox Talbot (JRAS 18 (1861), 77Google Scholar, quoted by Pallis, op. cit.) described this copy as “the most wonderful instance of patient accuracy which is to be found in the whole range of archaeological science”.
61 Probably the small barrel-cylinder from Babylon, Ker Porter, Travels, Pl. 78.
62 This is explained in Bellino's PS.
63 The reference to Bruce is unclear. The allusion is to inscriptions at Persepolis.
64 de Bruin, Cornells, Reizen over Moskovie … door Persie (Amsterdam, 1714; French ed. 1742–92)Google Scholar.
65 The village near Pasargadae.
66 Olivier, G. A., Voyage dans l'empire ottoman, l'Égypte el la Perse (Atlas; Paris, 1804)Google Scholar.
67 Presumably Baron Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), the celebrated naturalist and traveller. In the event, he did not visit Baghdad in the winter of 1819–20; see C. M. Alexander, op. cit., note 10, 185.
68 Dr. John Hine was succeeded as surgeon to the Residency by Dr. Bell.
69 Mozdok was a fort on the Terek River in Georgia, strengthened and garrisoned with Cossacks in 1770 by Prince Potemkin. In 1818–9 Yermoloff campaigned in Daghestan and conquered it. Bellino's reference to settlers from Wiirttemberg at Mozdok seems to refer to the passage of 500 families of Swabian peasants, who forming an extreme religious Protestant sect rejecting marriage emigrated in 1818, first to settle in Odessa, but being unsuccessful there, were transferred by the Russian authorities to different parts of Transcaucasia chiefly near Tiflis in Georgia. Here they prospered. (See Baddeley, J. F., Russian Conquest of the Caucasus (London, 1908)Google Scholar; von Haxthausen, A., Transcaucasia (London, 1854)Google Scholar trans. J. F. Taylor.) I am obliged to Professor David Lang for information and references.
70 Tartars were the official couriers who conveyed governmental and diplomatic mail.
71 See above, letter of 14 February, and note 54.
72 See above, note 53.
73 Sir R. Ker Porter visited this ruined Armenian fortress near Erivan on 29.10.1819, Travels, II, 624.
74 See above note 69.
75 On these Württembergers, see above note 69.
76 This is the “Bellino cylinder”, on which see above, p. 16 and note 60; also Plate II.
77 Presumably, Karl Borromaus Graf von Harrach (1761–1829), scientist and scholar.
78 = Percale, “a closely woven plain weave fabric usually of Egyptian cotton, of lighter weight than chintz” (Textile Terms, Manchester Textile Institute 1963Google Scholar; information by the kindness of Miss N. Rothstein, Victoria and Albert Museum).
79 Probably J. J. von Görres, writer on religion and history; it is not made clear to which of his many writings reference is made.
Münter, Frederick, Undersøgelser om de persepolitanske Inscriptioner (Copenhagen, 1800)Google Scholar.