Edward Hincks

Edward Hincks was a 19th-century Irish scholar and linguist, renowned for his significant contributions to the study of ancient languages, particularly the cuneiform script of Mesopotamia. He played a key role in deciphering ancient Assyrian and Babylonian texts, making important discoveries about their history and culture. Hincks proposed that these scripts represented phonetic sounds rather than just symbols for words, which was a groundbreaking insight. His work laid the foundation for modern Assyriology, the study of ancient Near Eastern civilizations, helping us better understand the civilizations that shaped human history.