George Rawlinson (23 November 1812 – 6 October 1902) was a British scholar, historian and

Christian theologian Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradit ...

Life

Rawlinson was born at Chadlington, Oxfordshire, the son of Abram Tysack Rawlinson and the younger brother of the famous

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logy, -logia''), also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cune ...

, Sir Henry Rawlinson. His father was a breeder of racehorses, and bred the winner of the 1841 Derby. Rawlinson was educated at Ealing School. Having taken a First in Literae Humaniores at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(from Trinity College) in 1838, he was elected to a fellowship at Exeter College, in 1840, where he was a Fellow and tutor from 1842 to 1846. He was ordained in 1841, was curate at Merton, Oxfordshire, from 1846 to 1847, was

Bampton Lecturer The Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, England, were founded by a bequest of John Bampton. They have taken place since 1780. They were a series of annual lectures; since the turn of the 20th century they have sometimes been biennial ...

in 1859, and was

Camden Professor of Ancient History The Camden Professorship of Ancient History at the University of Oxford was established in 1622 by English antiquary and historian William Camden, Clarenceux King of Arms, and endowed with the income of the manor of Bexley, becoming the first and ...

from 1861 to 1889. In his early days at Oxford, Rawlinson played

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

for the

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, appearing in five matches between 1836 and 1839 which have since been considered to have been first-class. He was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1869. In 1872, he was appointed

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, and after 1888 he was rector of the rich City of London benefice All Hallows, Lombard Street. In 1873, he was appointed

proctor Proctor (a variant of ''wikt:procurator, procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts: # In law, a proctor is a historica ...

in Convocation for the Chapter of Canterbury. He married in 1846 Louisa Chermside, daughter of Sir Robert Alexander Chermside. The couple had 13 children. They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1896. Canon Rawlinson died at his residence in Cathedral precincts,

, on 6 October 1902.

Family

* George Ernest Rawlinson * Alice Georgiana Rawlinson * Merial Eudocia Rawlinson * Catherine Marguerite Jane Rawlinson * Mary Louisa Rawlinson * Eleanor Katherine Rawlinson * Ethel Elisabeth Amy Rawlinson * Edward Creswicke Scott Rawlinson * Louisa Henrietta Rawlinson * Edith Gertrude Rawlinson * Lionel Seymour Rawlinson * Charles Brooke Rawlinson * Eleanor Katherine Rawlinson

Publications

His chief publications are his translation of the ''

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

'' of

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

(in collaboration with Sir Henry Rawlinson and Sir John Gardner Wilkinson), 1858–60; ''The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World'', 1862–67; ''The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy'' (

Parthia Parthia ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemeni ...

n), 1873; ''The Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy'' (

Sassanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

), 1875; ''Manual of Ancient History'', 1869; ''Historical Illustrations of the Old Testament'', 1871; ''The Origin of Nations'', 1877; ''History of Ancient Egypt'', 1881; ''Egypt and Babylon'', 1885; ''History of Phoenicia'', 1889; ''Parthia'', 1893; ''Memoir of Major-General Sir HC Rawlinson'', 1898. His lectures to an audience at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

on the topic of the accuracy of the Bible in 1859 were published in later years as the apologetic work ''The Historical Evidences of the Truth of the Scripture Records Stated Anew''. He was also a contributor to the '' Speaker's Commentary'', the ''

Pulpit Commentary The ''Pulpit Commentary'' is a homiletic commentary on the Bible first published between 1880 and 1919

'', Smith's ''Dictionary of the Bible'', and various similar publications. He was the author of the article "Herodotus" in the 9th edition of the

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

. In his 1881 book, a ''History of Ancient Egypt'', George Rawlinson wrote that in form the Egyptian most resembled the modern Arab. They were amongst the darkest of races that the

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

came into contact with, but considered

to have made extreme exaggerations. Based on his viewing of monuments, he asserted the real complexion of the ordinary Egyptian man was brown-with a tinge of red, which he observed was not very different from the

Copts Copts (; ) are a Christians, Christian ethnoreligious group, ethnoreligious group native to Northeast Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt since antiquity. They are, like the broader Egyptians, Egyptian population, des ...

. In another publication entitled ''Ancient Egypt'' released in 1887, Rawlinson would state the Egyptian people were of a "mixed-race", derived by movements of Ethiopians from the south, Libyans from the west, and Semitic peoples coming from the north-east of the continent.

References

Sources

External links

* * * *
The History of Herodotus
', translated by George Rawlinson.
Rawlinson, George. ''Historical Evidences of the Scripture Records Stated Anew: With Special Reference to the Doubts and Discoveries of Modern Times''. New York: John B. Alden, 1885.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawlinson, George 1812 births 1902 deaths 19th-century English historians Greek–English translators Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford People from West Oxfordshire District English cricketers 19th-century Anglicans Oxford University cricketers Canons of Canterbury English cricketers of 1826 to 1863 19th-century British sportsmen Camden Professors of Ancient History Presidents of the Oxford Union Governors of Abingdon School Historians of Phoenicia International members of the American Philosophical Society