BOTTA, PAUL-ÉMILE

BOTTA, PAUL-ÉMILE. – Archaeologist and Assyriologist of Italian origin, born in Turin on 6 December 1802; he followed his father’s political ideas and served France, dying at Achères near Poissy on 29 March 1870. Consul of France in Alexandria in Egypt, Mosul, and Tripoli in Syria, he was entrusted with archaeological missions: at Khorsabad he discovered Assyrian ruins, which he supposed to be the ruins of Nineveh, whereas they were the remains of Sargon’s palace (v. SARGON II). He sent many fragments of monuments to Paris, which formed at the Louvre the museum known as the Assyrian museum. He contributed to the decipherment of cuneiform writing. He published monographs on Assyriology, the most important of which are Monument de Ninive, découvert et décrit (Paris 1847–50); Inscriptions découvertes à Khor-sabad (ibid. 1848).

Giustino Bowen