ABSTRACT
It is sometimes surprising to see how learned and intelligent people become bogged down in misunderstandings which render them incapable of resolving the problems facing them — to which we, of course, have the solution. Precisely that makes it difficult for us to appreciate fully the obstacles they faced, the universe of understanding in which they lived and which was determined by authoritative pronouncements, prejudices and fixed ideas, all of which necessarily limited their possibilities. By the same token it is fascinating to follow the process which eventually led to the flash of insight, the lucid and self-evident realisation that must have been felt as an enormous relief, a head-shaking happy experience of the simplicity of the problem! Men like Rawlinson, Layard and Botta faced a whole series of questions in 1848, riddles which they felt were capable of solution, but without any true understanding of which of their opinions and views they would have to discard and replace because they would turn out to be fundamentally flawed and unproductive.
