SMITH, GEORGE An English Assyriologist, born at Chelsea. He was an en graver by trade. Becoming interested in Assyri ology, he gave much of his leisure time and spare money to the study, and attracted the favorable notice of Rawlinson. In 1866 he discovered a text relating to the tribute paid by Jelin to Shahnaneser II. The remarkable aptitude which he showed for arranging and classify ing Assyrian documents led to his being associated with Rawlinson in the prepara tion of the third and fourth volumes of the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia (pub lished 1370, 1875). In 1867 Smith became of ficially connected with the British „Museum. In 1871 he published the Annals of ssur-Guni-pal, and prepared valuable papers on the Early His tory of Babylonia and The Heading of the Cypri ote Inscriptions. In 18'72 he made his most fa mous discovery—the Babylonian account of the deluge. which had been found at Nineveh and brought to England by Layard. As a result he was sent to Nineveh the following year at the expenseof the Daily Telegraph to search for more fragments of the account, and returned in a short time, hav ing succeeded in his mission. Ile again conducted
excavations at Nineveh for the British !Museum in 1874. In October. 1875, he started a third time for the East; after many difficulties he reached Nineveh, only to find that it was im possible to excavate, owing to the disturbed state of the country. His health broke down from care and worry, and he died at Aleppo. August 19, 1876. Besides the works already mentioned, he published: .lssyriga Disroreries (1875), the account of his explorations; The Assyrian Eponym Canon (1875) ; Ancient History from the Monuments: Assyria (1875); 7'h Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876; edited by Sayee. 18801 ; and papers in the Transactions of dif ferent societies. Ancient History from the Monu ments: Babylonia ( t877) and The IIi.stra•i/ of Sennacherib (1873) appeared posthumously.