Sketch map of Sistan on the border between Iran (Persia) and Afghanistan. The city was renamed to Zabol in the 1920s. Ancient roads and places are marked in red. Based on the research of the Orientalist Sir Henry Rawlinson, generally considered the father of modern Assyrian studies.



Rawlinson was sent to Persia in 1827 to assist with the training of the Shah of Iran's troops. After this mission collapsed due to tensions between the British government and the Shah, Rawlinson remained in Iran, traveling to many ancient sites across Iraq and Iran. By transcribing and studying trilingual inscriptions in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian dating to around 500BC, Rawlinson became the first European to decipher the cuneiform script.



Later in life he became a key political figure in the Great Game between Britain and Russia as one of the most strident voices against Russian expansion.



Printed colour. [MEAST3517]