HROZN, BEDRICH

( (Czech), ) born May 6, 1879, Lys nad Labem, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary died Dec. 18, 1952, Prague German Friedrich Hrozny Czech archaeologist and language scholar who deciphered cuneiform Hittite, opening a major path to the ancient history of the Near East. After taking part in excavations in northern Palestine (1904), Hrozn became professor at the University of Vienna (1905) and also professor of cuneiform research and ancient Oriental history at Charles University, Prague (191952). Working with inscriptions from the Hittite royal archives discovered at Bogazky, Tur. (1906), he took the positionfirst suggested in 1902 by J.A. Knudtzonthat Hittite belonged to the Indo-European family of languages and was related to Iranian, Italic, Celtic, and Slavic. His Sprache der Hethiter . . . (1915; Language of the Hittites . . .) was attacked from many quarters. He substantiated his claim, however, by translating a number of documents, including a Hittite legal code, and publishing Hethitische Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazki . . . (1919; Hittite Cuneiform Inscriptions from Bogazky . . .). In 1925 he led a Czechoslovak expedition to Kltepe, Tur., recovered some 1,000 Old Assyrian tablets nearby, and excavated the ancient city of Kanesh, revealing much about its everyday life. During the remainder of his career, he addressed himself to problems of deciphering.