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{{short description|Norwegian-German orientalist}}
[[File:Lassen2.jpg|thumb|Christian Lassen<br> drawing by [[Adolf Hohneck]], 1859 ]]
'''Christian Lassen''' (22 October 1800 – 8 May 1876) was a [[Norway|Norwegian]]-born, German [[oriental studies|orientalist]] and [[Indologist]]. He was a professor of Old Indian language and literature at the [[University of Bonn]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://snl.no/Christian_Lassen|title=Christian Lassen |website= Store norske leksikon|access-date=December 1, 2020}}</ref><ref name=nbl>{{cite web|url= http://nbl.no/Christian_Lassen|title=Christian Lassen|website= Norsk Biografisk Leksikon|access-date=December 1, 2020}}</ref>

==Biography==
He was born at [[Bergen, Norway]] where he attended [[Bergen Cathedral School]]. Having received an education at the [[University of Oslo]], he moved to Germany and continued his studies at the [[University of Heidelberg]] and the [[University of Bonn]] where Lassen acquired a sound knowledge of [[Sanskrit]]. He spent three years in [[Paris, France|Paris]] and London, engaged in copying and collating manuscripts, and collecting materials for future research, especially with reference to [[Hindu]] drama and philosophy. During this period he published, jointly with [[Eugène Burnouf]], his first work, ''Essai sur le Pâli'' (Paris, 1826).<ref name="nbl"/>

On his return to Bonn he studied [[Arabic language|Arabic]], and took the degree of Ph.D., his dissertation discussing the Arabic notices of the geography of the [[Punjab region|Punjab]] (''Commentario geographica historica de Pentapotamia Indica'', Bonn, 1827). Soon after he was admitted ''[[Privatdozent]]'', and in 1830 was appointed extraordinary and in 1840 ordinary professor of Old Indian language and literature. Lassen remained at the University of Bonn to the end of his life. Having been affected with almost total blindness for many years, by 1864 he was allowed to give up lecturing.
He died at Bonn and was buried at [[Alter Friedhof, Bonn|Alter Friedhof]].<ref name="nbl"/>
==Work==
In 1829–1831 he brought out, in conjunction with [[August Wilhelm von Schlegel]], a critical annotated edition of the [[Hitopadesha|''Hitopadeśa'']]. The appearance of this edition marks the starting-point of the critical study of Sanskrit literature. Lassen assisted von Schlegel in editing and translating the first two cantos of the epic [[Ramayana|''Rāmāyana'']] (1829-1838). In 1832 he brought out the text of the first act of [[Bhavabhuti]]'s drama, [[Bhavabhuti#Malatimadhava|''Mālatīmādhava'']], and a complete edition, with a [[Latin]] translation, of the ''Sānkhya-kārikā''. In 1837 followed his edition and translation of [[Jayadeva]]'s charming lyrical drama, [[Gita Govinda|''Gītagovinda'']] and his ''Institutiones linguae Pracriticae''. His ''Anthologia Sanscritica'', which came out the following year, contained several hitherto unpublished texts, and did much to stimulate the study of Sanskrit in German universities. In 1846 Lassen brought out an improved edition of Schlegel's text and translation of the "[[Bhagavad Gita]]".
<ref name=slk>{{cite web|url=http://runeberg.org/salmonsen/2/15/0499.html |title= Lassen, Christian|website= Salmonsens konversationsleksikon
|access-date=December 1, 2020}}</ref>

As well as the study of Indian languages, he was a scientific pioneer in other fields of philological inquiry. In his ''Beiträge zur Deutung der Eugubinischen Tafeln'' (1833) he prepared the way for the correct interpretation of the [[Umbria]]n inscriptions; and the ''Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes'' (7 vols., 1837-1850), started and largely conducted by him, contains, among other valuable papers from his pen, grammatical sketches of the Beluchi and Brahui languages, and an essay on the Lycian inscriptions.<ref name="slk"/>

===Old Persian cuneiform===
[[File:Old Persian cuneiform alphabet according to Lassen in 1836.jpg|thumb|Old Persian cuneiform alphabet according to Lassen in 1836]]
Soon after the appearance of Burnouf's ''Commentaire sur le Yacna'' (1833), Lassen also directed his attention to the [[Zend language]], and to [[Iran]]ian studies generally; and in ''Die altpersischen Keilinschriften von Persepolis'' (1836) he greatly improved the knowledge of the [[Old Persian cuneiform]] inscriptions, following the early efforts of [[Grotefend]] (1802) and [[Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin|Saint-Martin]] (1823).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rawlinson |first1=Henry Creswicke |title=The Persian Cuneiform Inscription at Behistun, Decyphered and Translated; with a Memoir on Persian Cuneiform Inscriptions in General, and on that of Behistun in Particular: By Major Henry Creswicke Rawlinson |date=1846 |publisher=Parker |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lE-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA10 |language=en}}</ref> thereby anticipating, by one month, Burnouf's ''Mémoire'' on the same subject, while [[Sir Henry Rawlinson]]'s famous memoir on the [[Behistun Inscription]], though drawn up in Persia, at about the same time, did not reach the Royal Asiatic Society until three years later, 1839.<ref>Rawlinson received Lassen's copy in 1839, three years after publication "It was at this period that I received through the Vice-President of the Royal Asiatic Society, a letter from Professor Lassen, containing a précis of his last improved system of interpretation, and the Bonn alphabet I recognized at once to be infinitely superior to any other that had previously fallen under my observation" {{cite book |last1=Rawlinson |first1=Henry Creswicke |title=The Persian Cuneiform Inscription at Behistun, Decyphered and Translated; with a Memoir on Persian Cuneiform Inscriptions in General, and on that of Behistun in Particular: By Major Henry Creswicke Rawlinson |date=1846 |publisher=Parker |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lE-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA10 |language=en}}</ref>

Subsequently, Lassen published, in the sixth volume of his journal (1845), a collection of all the Old Persian cuneiform inscriptions known up to that date. According to Sayce:

{{Quote|(Lassen's)...contributions to the decipherment of the inscriptions were numerous and important. He succeeded in fixing the true values of nearly all the letters in the Persian alphabet, in translating the texts, and in proving that the language of them was not [[Avestan|Zend]], but stood to both Zend and [[Sanskrit]] in the relation of a sister.|Sayce<ref name="Sayce">Sayce 1908.</ref>{{rp|15}}}}

===Brahmi script===
The first successful attempts at deciphering the [[Brahmi script]] were made in 1836 by Christian Lassen, who used a bilingual Greek-Brahmi coin of [[Indo-Greek]] king [[Agathocles of Bactria|Agathocles]] to correctly identify several Brahmi letters.<ref name=RHP>{{cite book |last1=Ray |first1=Himanshu Prabha |title=Buddhism and Gandhara: An Archaeology of Museum Collections |date=2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781351252744 |page=181 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MiBBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT181 |language=en}}</ref> The task was then completed by [[James Prinsep]], who was able to identify the rest of the Brahmi characters, with the help of [[Major Cunningham]].<ref name=RHP/>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:AgathoklesCoinage.jpg|Lassen used the bilingual Greek-Brahmi coinage of [[Indo-Greek]] kings [[Agathocles of Bactria|Agathocles]] and [[Pantaleon]] to correctly decipher the [[Brahmi script]].<ref name=RHP/>
File:Announcement of the decipherement of Brahmi letters by Lassen in the JASB in 1836.jpg|thumb|Announcement by [[James Prinsep]] of the secure decipherement of the first Brahmi letters by Lassen in the Journal of the [[Asiatic Society of Bengal]], in 1836.<ref>{{cite book|title=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol V 1836|page=723|url=https://archive.org/stream/JournalOfTheAsiaticSocietyOfBengalVolV1836/Jasb1836Full#page/n837|language=English}}</ref>
File:Agathukleyasa Agathokles.jpg|Identical regnal names ''Agathuklayesa'' (Brahmi: 𑀅𑀕𑀣𑀼𑀼𑀓𑁆𑀮𑁂𑀬𑁂𑀲) and ''Agathokles'' (Greek: ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ) on a bilingual coin of Agathocles, used by Christian Lassen to decipher securely the first Brahmi letters.<ref name=RHP/>
</gallery>

===Kharoshthi===
He also was one of the first scholars in Europe who took up, with signal success, the decipherment of the newly discovered Bactrian, [[Indo-Greek]] and [[Indo-Scythian]] coins with [[Kharoshthi]] legends, which furnished him the materials for ''Zur Geschichte der griechischen und indoskythsschen Könige in Bakterien, Kabul, und Indien'' (1838).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lassen |first1=Christian |title=Zur Geschichte der griechischen und indoskythischen Könige in Baktrien, Kabul und Indien durch Entzifferung der altkabulischen Legenden auf ihren Münzen |date=1838 |publisher=Bonn, H. B. König |url=https://archive.org/details/zurgeschichtede00lassgoog/page/n90/mode/thumb}}</ref> In this, he closely followed the pioneering work of [[James Prinsep]] (1835), and [[Carl Ludwig Grotefend]] (1836).<ref name="RS211">{{cite book |last1=Salomon |first1=Richard |title=Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-535666-3 |page=211 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XYrG07qQDxkC&pg=PA211 |language=en}}</ref>

He contemplated bringing out a critical edition of the ''Vendidad''; but, after publishing the first five fargards (1852), he felt that his whole energies were required for the successful accomplishment of the great undertaking of his life—his ''Indische Altertumskunde''. In this work—completed in four volumes, published respectively in 1847 (2nd ed., 1867), 1849 (2nd ed., 1874), 1858 and 1861—which forms one of the greatest monuments of untiring industry and critical scholarship, everything that could be gathered from native and foreign sources, relative to the political, social and intellectual development of [[India]]. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1868.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter L|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterL.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=23 September 2016}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Other sources==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Lassen, Christian}}
* “Christian Lassen,” ''[[Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie]]'', Band 17, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1883, S. 784–788. {{in lang|de}}
* “Christian Lassen,” ''[[Meyers Konversations-Lexikon]]'', 4. Auflage von 1888–1890. {{in lang|de}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lassen |first1=Christian |title=Altpersischen Keil-Inschriften von Persepolis. |date=1836 |publisher=Bonn, E. Weber |url=https://archive.org/details/altpersischenkei00lass/page/138/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lassen |first1=Christian |title=Zur Geschichte der griechischen und indoskythischen Könige in Baktrien, Kabul und Indien durch Entzifferung der altkabulischen Legenden auf ihren Münzen |date=1838 |publisher=Bonn, H. B. König |url=https://archive.org/details/zurgeschichtede00lassgoog/page/n90/mode/thumb}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Christian Lassen}}
{{EB1911|wstitle=Lassen, Christian|volume=16|pages=236–237}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lassen, Christian}}
[[Category:1800 births]]
[[Category:1876 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at the Bergen Cathedral School]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]]
[[Category:Indologists]]
[[Category:University of Bonn faculty]]
[[Category:University of Bonn alumni]]
[[Category:Heidelberg University alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century German historians]]
[[Category:Norwegian emigrants to Germany]]

Christian Lassen - Revision history

UpdateBot at 07:24, 23 May 2022