Bedrich Hrozný

Bedrich Hrozný (May 6 1879 - December 12 1952) was a Czech orientalist and linguist. He deciphered the ancient Hittite writing and established Hittitology.

Hrozný was born in Lysa nad Labem, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. In the town of Kolín he learned Hebrew and Arabic, in the University of Vienna Assyrian, Aramaean, Ethiopian, Sumerian and Sanskrit, as well as the cuneiform used in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and Persia.

In 1906 150 km from Ankara, a German expedition found the archives of the Hittite kings in cuneiform, but in a unknown language. In the middle of the First World War Hrozný published a description of the language and its grammar. In 1925 Hrozný discovered 1000 cuneiform tablets containing contracts of Assyrian merchants.