Georg Friedrich Grotefend, a German philologist and archaeologist, born in Munden, June 9, 1775, died in Hanover, Dec. 15, 1853. He studied in Gottingen, officiated for some time as rector of the gymnasium of Frankfort, founded in 1817 the Gelehrtemerein fur deutsche Sprache, and was director of the lyce-um of Hanover from 1821 to 1849. He was a contributor to Ersch and Gruber's cyclopaedia, wrote on German philology and poetry, and extensively on the ancient languages and the geography of Italy, prepared several Latin grammars for the use of schools, and was the first to question the genuineness of Wagenfeld's alleged discovery of Sanchoniathon"s original history of the Phoenicians. He gained reputa-tion by deciphering the Pehlevic inscriptions of the Sassanides at Naksh-i-Rustam, near ancient Persepolis. His principal works on the subject are: Beitrage zvr Erlauterung der per-sepolitanischen Keilschrift (Hanover, 1837); Neue Beitrage zur Erlauterung der babylo-nischen Keilsclirift (1840); and Anlage und Zerstorung der Gebaude zu Nimrud (Gottingen, 1851).