Rassam, Hormuzd (hôrmŏzdˈ räsämˈ) [key], 1826–1910, Turkish archaeologist. He assisted Sir Austen Henry Layard in Nineveh in 1845–47 and 1849–51, studying at Oxford in the years between. While in charge (1852–54) of excavations for the British Museum, he discovered at Nineveh the palace of Assurbanipal. Later during fieldwork (1872–82) in Assyria and Babylonia he identified and partially excavated the site of Sippar. He wrote Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore, King of Abyssinia (1869) and Asshur and the Land of Nimrod (1897).
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