Hormuzd Rassam’s account of his embassy to Ethiopia to negotiate the release of missionaries and British officials held captive by the emperor, Tewodros II.

Hormuzd Rassam (1826–1910) was an Iraqi-Assyrian archaeologist and diplomat. In 1866, the British government sent him on a mission to Ethiopia in the hope of freeing hostages held captive by Emperor Tewodros II. As his account of the mission describes, the emperor also took Rassam hostage until he was freed during the British Expedition to Magdala, led by Robert Napier, two years later.

Rassam had aided several British archaeological expeditions in the 1840s and 50s. After studying at the University of Oxford, he embarked on a diplomatic career and was appointed First Political Resident at the British Consulate in Aden (Yemen). It was from there that in 1866 he was sent to Ethiopia with a message from Queen Victoria to Emperor Tewodros II after he took British missionaries hostage. Rassam arrived in Massawa (now in Eritrea) and travelled to have an audience with the emperor. Initially, negotiations went well: Tewodros granted Rassam a residence in the country and present him with gifts. The hostages were also released from their captivity and allowed to stay with Rassam at his home. Shortly after, another British traveller, Charles Tilstone Beke, arrived in Ethiopia with letters from the hostages’ families, written with the hope that they could persuade Tewodros to allow them to return home, a circumstance which angered the emperor and soon Rassam and the hostages were imprisoned.

The failure of the embassy led to the British government organising a punitive expedition to secure their release in 1868. While the expedition was successful in its goals, it also resulted in the taking of valuable treasures, many of which ended up in the collections of major institutions in Britain.

Queen Victoria is said to have thanked Rassam personally for his services rendered as her envoy in the crisis.