Editing Carsten Niebuhr (section)

==Expeditions==

[[File:1843 Murphy Map of Island of Bombay and Colaba.png|thumb|Map of Bombay prepared by Niebuhr]]

The expedition sailed in January 1761 via Marseilles and Malta to [[Istanbul]] and [[Alexandria]]. Then the members of the expedition visited [[Cairo]] and [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]], before traversing the [[Red Sea]] via [[Jiddah]] to [[Yemen]], which was their main destination.

In [[Mocha, Yemen|Mocha]], on 25 May 1763, the expedition's philologist, [[Frederik Christian von Haven]], died, and on 11 July 1763, on the way to [[Sanaʽa]], the capital of Yemen, its naturalist [[Peter Forsskål]] also died.

In Sanaʽa the remaining members of the expedition had an audience with the Imam of Yemen [[al-Mahdi Abbas]] (1719–1775), but suffered from the climate and returned to Mocha. Niebuhr seems to have preserved his own life and restored his health by adopting native dress and eating native food.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

From Mocha the expedition continued to [[Mumbai|Bombay]], the expedition's artist Georg Wilhelm Baurenfeind died on the 29th of August and the expedition's servant Lars Berggren on the following day; both were buried at sea. The surgeon Christian C. Kramer (1732–1763) also died, soon after landing in Bombay. Niebuhr was the only surviving member. He stayed in Bombay for fourteen months and then returned home by way of [[Muscat, Oman|Muscat]], [[Bushire]], [[Shiraz, Iran|Shiraz]], and [[Persepolis]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} His copies of the cuneiform inscriptions at Persepolis proved to be a key turning-point in the decipherment of cuneiform, and the birth of [[Assyriology]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Niebuhr|first1=Carsten|title=Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und andern umliegender Ländern|trans-title=Account of travels to Arabia and other surrounding lands|date=1778|publisher=Nicolaus Möller|location=Copenhagen, Denmark|volume= 2|page=150|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TG5BAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA150|language=German}} ; see also [https://books.google.com/books?id=TG5BAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA150-IA5 the fold-out plate (Tabelle XXXI)] after p. 152.  From p. 150:  ''"Ich will auf der Tabelle XXXI, noch eine, oder vielmehr vier Inschriften H, I, K, L beyfügen, die ich etwa in der Mitte an der Hauptmauer nach Süden, alle neben einander, angetroffen habe.  Der Stein worauf sie stehen, ist 26 Fuß lang, und 6 Fuß hoch, und dieser ist ganz damit bedeckt.  Man kann also daraus die Größe der Buchstaben beurtheilen.  Auch hier sind drey verschiedene Alphabete."''  (I want to include in Plate XXXI another, or rather four inscriptions H, I, K, L, which I found approximately in the middle of the main wall to the south [in the ruined palace at Persepolis], all side by side. The stone on which they appear, is 26 feet long and 6 feet high, and it's completely covered with them. One can thus judge therefrom the size of the letters. Also here, [there] are three different alphabets.)</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Sayce|first1=Rev. Arnold H.|title=The Archaeology of the Cuneiform Inscriptions|date=1908|publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge|location=London, England|page=9|edition=2nd|url=https://archive.org/stream/archaeologyofcun00sayc#page/8/mode/2up}}</ref>

His transcriptions were especially useful to [[Georg Friedrich Grotefend]], who made the first correct decipherments of [[Old Persian cuneiform]]:<ref name="BAS129">{{cite book |last1=André-Salvini |first1=Béatrice |title=Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24731-4 |page=129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJnaKu9DdNEC&pg=PA129 |language=en}}</ref>

<gallery widths="350px" heights="200px" perrow="4" class="center">
File:Niebuhr inscription 1.jpg|Niebuhr inscription 1. Now known to mean "Darius the Great King, King of Kings, King of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenian, who built this Palace".<ref name="BAS129"/> Today known as '''DPa''', from the Palace of Darius in Persepolis, above figures of the king and attendants <ref>{{cite web | title=DPa | website=Livius | date=2020-04-16 | url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dpa/ | access-date=2023-03-19}}</ref>
File:Niebuhr inscription 2.jpg|Niebuhr inscription 2. Now known to mean "Xerxes the Great King, King of Kings, son of Darius the King, an Achaemenian".<ref name="BAS129"/> Today known as '''XPe''', the text of fourteen inscriptions in three languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian) from the Palace of Xerxes in Persepolis.<ref>{{cite web | title=XPe | website=Livius | date=2020-09-24 | url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/xpe/ | access-date=2023-03-19}}</ref>
</gallery>

He also visited the ruins of [[Babylon]] (making many important sketches), [[Baghdad]], [[Mosul]], and [[Aleppo]]. He seems also to have visited the [[Behistun Inscription]] in around 1764. After a visit to [[Cyprus]], he made a tour through [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], crossed the [[Taurus Mountains]] to [[Bursa]], reached [[Constantinople]] in February 1767 and finally arrived in [[Copenhagen]] in the following November.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

[[File:Map of Yemen, prepared by Niebuhr.tif|thumb|Map of Yemen, prepared by Niebuhr]]

Niebuhr's production during the expedition is indeed impressive. It includes small-scale maps and charts of [[Yemen]], the [[Red Sea]], the [[Persian Gulf]] and [[Oman]], and other larger scale maps covering the [[Nile Delta]], the [[Gulf of Suez]] and the regions surrounding various port cities he visited, including [[Mocha, Yemen|Mocha]] and [[Surat]]. He completed 28 town plans of significant historical value because of their uniqueness for that period.

In summary, Niebuhr's maps, charts and plans constitute the greatest single addition to the cartography of the region that was produced through field research and published in the 18th century.<ref name="Lawrence J 1767">[[Lawrence J. Baack|Baack, Lawrence J.]] ''Undying curiosity. Carsten Niebuhr and the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia (1761-1767)''. Stuttgart, 2014</ref>