Vol.34.p.828

Ancient People

• Hetepheres I (G 7000 X)

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Remarks Wife of King Snefru, founder of Egypt’s Fourth Dynasty, and mother of King Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid. Her burial was hidden in a secret chamber (labeled G 7000 X) nearly 90 feet underground, and contained beautiful pieces of gilded and inlaid wooden furniture, silver jewelry, and a large alabaster sarcophagus that was found to be mysteriously empty.

Modern People

• Abd-el-Aleem (Reis)

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
• Abd-el-Mawgood (Reis)

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
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  Abd-el-Salam Abd-el-Latif

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Expedition worker at Giza.
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  Abdalla Ahmed el-Gebel

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Guard at Giza (from Quft).
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  Ahmed Hassan el-Nagar

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Guard at Giza (from Quft).
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  Attito Mahmud el-Nahi

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Brother of Ahmed Mahmud el-Nahi.
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  Dahi el-Batlan

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Dig house worker who ironed clothes for the ladies.
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  Etienne Marie-Félix Drioton

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates French, 1889–1961
  • Remarks Chanoine; L'Abbe Drioton; Egyptologist; Inspector General; Director General. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1889-1961) French Egyptologist ; born at Nancy, 21 Nov. 1889, son of Etienne D. and Félicie Maria Moitrier; he was educated at the Ecole Saint-Sigisbert, and in 1905 went on to the Séminaire at Nancy to be trained as a priest; he later became a Canon of the Church; he went to Rome in 1912, becoming a Doctor of Philosophy at the St. Thomas Academy and in 1913 received a Doctorate in Theology at the Gregorian University; at this period he was mainly interested in Hebrew and Bible studies; he became a Lic. in Biblical Sciences of the pontifical Commission; his interest now turned to Oriental studies and in 1918 he gained the Diploma of the Ecole Libre des Langues orientales at the Catholic Institute of Paris, taking Egyptian and Coptic as his subjects; he had been interested in ancient Egypt from the age of eleven and he took Egyptian grammar lessons by correspondence with Bénédite (q.v.); in 1919 he was appointed Professor of Egyptian philology and Coptic language at the Catholic Institute in succession to Virey (q.v.); for his students he now produced a handy Cours de Grammaire égyptienne, a work praised by F. Ll. Griffith (q.v.) in JEA, and the first teaching grammar other than translations of Erman's Aeg. Grammatik that had been written in France for many years; Drioton worked as Assistant Keeper with Boreux (q.v.) at the Louvre from 1926, and from 1925 he undertook the epigraphic survey at the Medamud excavations of the Institut Francais directed by Bisson de la Roque (q.v.), publishing afterwards two volumes of inscriptions; he now showed his interest in the reading of Ptolemaic texts; he also at this period worked on cryptographic writings and published several articles on this subject which were to become classics; in 1936 he was appointed Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service succeeding Lacau (q.v.), and filled this position for sixteen years; this was also an immensely productive period of his life as he published scores of articles and reviews; he also found time to give courses at the Institute of Egyptology of the University of Cairo and helped to train many young Egyptians in Egyptology ; he was appointed Director, 1952, at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Professor at the Collège de France, 1957; he gained many awards and decorations from different countries including Egypt and Iran, and was an Officer of the Légion d'Honneur; his specialities were religious subjects, Egyptian monotheism, and maxims and morals written on scarabs; "Essai sur la cryptographie privée de la fin de la XVIII dynastie" (1933) and "Recueil de cryptographie monumentale" (1940) were among his most important works in this field, exhibiting notable insight. Ancient Egyptian religious mystery plays also interested him and he showed the existence in ancient Egypt of a profane as well as sacred theatre, whose subjects like those of the Greeks were derived from mythology although not liturgical; painting of the Coptic period also fascinated him, as well as the 'Teaching of Amenemope' and its relationship with the Biblical book of Proverbs; on his return to France Drioton was made a member of the Conseil Artistique for Museums; he had an easy and fluent style which made his books and articles very readable; his bibliography up to 1955 numbered 287 items in all; his mongraphs included Introduction a l'étude des hiéroglyphes, with H. Sottas; with Marcelle Baud he produced two vols. on the Theban tombs, Le Tombeau de Roy, 1928, Le Tombeau de Panehesy, 1932; also Le Drame sacré dans I'antique Egypte, 1929; Une Scène des mystères D'horus, 1929; Ce que l'on sait du théâtre égyptien; Le Théâtre égyptien, 1942; Procédé acrophonique et principe consonantal, 1943-, An explanation of the enigmatical inscriptions on the Serapeum plaques of PtoLemy IV, 1946; L'Egypte, with j. Vandier, 1946; La Religion égyptienne, 1955; Maximes morales sur des scarabées égyptiens, 1957; Sur la sagesse d 'Aménémopé, 1957; Le Livre des proverbes et la sagesse d' Aménémopé, 1959; Egypte pharaonique, 1959; Boiseries coptes de style pharaonique, 1960; he died in Montgeron, 17 Jan. 1961 AFO 20 (1963), 308-9 (portr.)( J. Leclant); L'Ami du clergé, Langres 71 (1961), 295-6 (L. Christiani); BIFAO 61 (1962), 1-6 (portr.) (F. Daumas); BSAC 16 (1961-2), 335-7 (Sami Gabra), 337-42 (P. du Bourguet); BSFE 32 (Dec. 1961), 31-4( J. Sainte Fare Garnot); Bulletin de la Faculté des Lettres de Strasbourg, 40th year, no. 2 (Nov. 1961), 163-7 (portr.)( J. Leclant); Chron. D'Eg. 36 (1961), 175-8 (B. van de Walle) ibid. no 73 (1962), 5-7 (P. Gilbert); CRAIBL 1961, 24-5 (P. Chantraine), 106-7 (C. Schaeffer); La Croix, Paris, 27 Jan. 1961 (P. du Bourguet); Ecclesia, Paris, no. 145 (Apr. 1961), 123-30 (5 iilus.) (M. Colinon); Encielopedia Pomba, Turin, vol. ii (I 962), 353 (F. jesi);.Etudes, Paris, 94th year, vol. 309 (Apr. 1961), 73-84 (P. du Bourguet)); JEA 47 (1961). 4(J.Cerny); journal de Genève, 20jan. 1961, 2 (C. Maystre); Le Monde, Paris, I Feb. 1961 (no. 4988), 8 (G. Wiet); Nauvelles de l'Institut Catholique de Paris, 12, no. 3 (Feb-Mar. 1961), 17-22 (2 illus.) (P. du Bourguet); Rev. Arch. 1961, ii. 83-5 (J. Sainte Fare Garnot); ibid. 1962, i. 97 (Ch. Picard); La Revue du Gaire, vol. xlvi, no. 246 (Feb. 1961), 173-4 (A. Papadopoulo); Rev. d'ég- 13 (I 961), 9-18 (portr.)( J. Vandier); ;ZAS 87 (1962) pp. i-ii (portr.)( J. Vandier); BIFAO 56 (1957), 1-18 (bibl.)( J.Jacquiot); BSFE 116 (1989) 5-7 (J. Vercoutter).
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  Evelyn Esther Perkins

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates British
  • Remarks Secretary to George Reisner
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  Francis Olcott Allen

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Archaeologist/Egyptologist for the Harvard University--Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
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  George Andrew Reisner

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates American, 1867–1942
  • Remarks Egyptologist, archaeologist; Referred to as "the doctor" and "mudir" (Arabic for "director") in the excavation records. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
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  Mahmoud Ali

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
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  Mahmud Said Ahmed [Diraz]

  • Type Translator
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Diary translator. Son of Said Ahmed Said [Diraz] (Head Reis 1908-1926). Brother of Mohammed Said Ahmed (Head Reis 1936-1939). Family name, Diraz, was supplied by Said Ahmed Said's grandsons in 2006.
• Mohamed Abd-el-Hadi

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Guard at Saqqara.
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  Mohamed Said Ahmed [Diraz]

  • Type Author
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Head Reis for the Harvard-MFA expedition, 1936–1939. Son of Said Ahmed Said [Diraz] (Head Reis 1908-1926) and brother of Mahmoud Said Ahmed [Diraz] (Translator) and Ahmed Said Ahmed [Diraz]. Family name, Diraz, was supplied by Said Ahmed Said's grandsons in 2006.
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  Mohamed Said Ahmed [Diraz]

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Head Reis for the Harvard-MFA expedition, 1936–1939. Son of Said Ahmed Said [Diraz] (Head Reis 1908-1926) and brother of Mahmoud Said Ahmed [Diraz] (Translator) and Ahmed Said Ahmed [Diraz]. Family name, Diraz, was supplied by Said Ahmed Said's grandsons in 2006.
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  Mohamed Salem

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Son of Salem Hassan (Expedition cook).
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  Mohamed Tammam

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Guard at Giza (from Quft).
• Orabi Radwan

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Guard at Giza (from Quft).
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  Selim Hassan (Bey)

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates Egyptian, 1886–1961
  • Remarks Egyptologist; Sub Director General. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1886-1961) Egyptian Egyptologist; born Mit-Nagi, 15 April 1886, he studied at the Higher Teacher's College, Cairo under Kamal (q.v.); in 1912 he became a teacher and in 1921 obtained a post in the Egyptian Museum as assistant keeper; he studied in Paris 1923-7 at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes; he was the first Egyptian to be appointed as a Professor of Egyptology in the Universitv of Cairo, 1928 - 36; he was later made Deputy Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service responsible for the care of all monuments in the Nile valley, 1936-39; Ph.D. Vienna University, 1935; stimulated by the archaeological work of P. E. Newberry (q.v.) and Junker (q.v.)he began an active career in excavations with the clearance of some of the Giza mastabas in 1929; the excavations carried on by him in this necropolis continued until 1939 by which time a great deal of digging had been achieved, published in 10 parts; he also cleared the Sphinx and its temple, for the first time completely digging out the great amphitheatre around it and ensuring that it would not be buried by send again so easily; he wrote a study on this work and on the temple of Amenhotep II here; in addition the so-called Fourth Pyramid or the palace-façade tomb of Queen Khent-kawes of the Fourth Dynasty was investigated and also the funerary town of the priests associated with it; he later worked on the Unas causeway at Saqqara and at the valley temple of this king, discovering some of the mastabas in this area and two great subterranean tombs dated to the Second Dynasty; his final excavations at Giza were carried out on the east and south faces of the Great Pyramid and at the mortuary temple of King Khufu, 1938-9; he also took part in the campaign to save the monments of Nubia, and wrote a report on this subject; he published about 53 books and articles on Egyptological subjects in English, French, and Arabic, Hymnes religieux du Moyen Empire, 1928; Le Poème dit de Pentaour et Le rapport officiel sur la bataiILe de Qadesh , 1929; Excavations at Giza, 10 pts., 1929-60; The Sphinx. Its History in the Light of recent Excavations, 1949; Report on the Monunents of Nubia,1955Excavations at Saqqara 1937-8, 3 vols., 1975; in Arabic Literature of Ancient Egpt, 2 vols.; Ancient Egypt from Prehistoric Times to the Age of Rameses 11, 6 vols.; he died in Giza, 30 Sept. 1961. AfO 20 (1963), 310 (H. Brunner); Archaeology 14, no, 4 (1961, 293; ASAE 58 (1964), 61- 84 (bibl.) (Dia Abou-Ghazi); Orientalia 31 (1962), 271; Goettinger Miszellen 76 (1984), 78-80; Reid, JAOS 105 (1985), 237, 241-44.
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  William Stevenson Smith

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates American, 1907–1969
  • Remarks Egyptologist; Curator, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.