John George Taylor

He was one of the first archaeologists to explore the prominent burial mounds in the area of the Persian Gulf, and he made some very important discoveries.

At Basra, he was instructed by the Mandaean ganzibra (high priest) Adam Yuhana, the father of Yahya Bihram, on the Mandaic language and scriptures such as the Ginza Rabba.

His report on this journey ( "Journal of a tour in Armenia, Kurdistan and Upper Mesopotamia, with Notes of Researches in the Deyrsim Dagh") retains importance to this date as one of the earliest sources of the history, geography and anthropology of this area.

Taylor found clay cylinders in the four corners of the top stage of the ziggurat which bore an inscription of Nabonidus (Nabuna'id), the last king of Babylon (539 BC), closing with a prayer for his son Belshar-uzur (Bel-ŝarra-Uzur), the Belshazzar of the Book of Daniel.

Evidence was found of prior restorations of the ziggurat by Ishme-Dagan of Isin, also later by Shu-Sin of Ur, and still later by Kurigalzu, a Kassite king of Babylon in the 14th century BCE.

He first published the results of his southern Iraqi excavations in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1855; unfortunately, this item appeared under the incorrect name of "J.E.