Vol.07.p.033[3]

Modern People

• Alexandre Barsanti

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Egyptologist, artist, restorer. Giza—early 20th century.
• Arthur Edward Pearse Brome Weigall

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates British, 1880–1934
  • Remarks Egyptologist and author. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1880-1934) British Egyptologist and author; born St Helier, jersey, 2O Nov. 1880, son of Major Arthur Archibald Denny Weigall and Alice Cowan; he was educated at Hillside School, Malvern, and Wellington College; he entered New College, Oxford, 1900, but left after a short residence to become assistant to Prof. Flinders Petrie on the staff of the EEF, 1901; he married twice, first Hortense Schleiter of Chicago, second Muriel Frances Lillie of Hillsborough, Co. Down; he was Inspector-General of Antiquities for the Egyptian Government, 1905-14; he was closely associated with excavations in the Theban Necropolis carried out by Sir Robert Mond (q.v.), and also with those of Theodore Davis (q.v.) in the Valley of Kings; he was an efficient and ener- getic official and for the first time probably since Pharaonic times the tombs and temples of Western Thebes became well ordered and properly conserved; he initiated the numbering of the Tombs of the Nobles now in general use, and assisted in their opening up and restoration; with A.H. Gardiner (q.v.) he produced the Topographical catalogue of the Private Tombs of Thebes later supplemented by Engelbach (q.v.); his later popular works are better known but were often written in haste; his later life was that of a writer and journalist even, of a scene designer, and shows avery individualistic stamp; for hisarchaeological work Weigall was awarded the Cross 4th Class Red Eagle, Germany, Officer's Cross of Franz Joseph, Austria, 3rd Class Medjidieh, Egypt; he published many works serious and popular, see Abydos I, in part, 1902; Abydos III 1904; A Report on the Antiquities of Lower Nubia, 1907; A Catalogue of the Weights and Balances in the Cairo Museum 1908; TraveLc in the Upper Egyptian Deserts, 1909; A Guide to the Antiquities of UpperEgypt, 1910, like Baikie's a very useful book for the tourist; The Life of Akhenaten, Pharaoh of Egypt, 1910, rev. 1922; The Treasury of Ancient Egypt, 1911; A Topographical Gatalogue of the Tombs of Thebes, with A. H. Gardiner, 1913; The Life of Cleopatra, Queen of egypt, 1914, rev. 1924; Egypt from 1798 to 1914, 1915; The Clory of the pharaohs, 1923; Tutankhamen, and other Essays, 1923; AnctIent Egyptian Works of Art, 1924; A History of the Pharaohs, vol.i, 1925, vol. ii, 1926, never completed, a work of great originality and very well written, but marred by the author's individual approach to certain philological and historical matters, and displaying considerable arrogance towards other contemporary Egyptologists; at this stage of his career Weigall's writing became more general with works such as Flights into Antiqulity Sappho, and Laura was My Camel; but he produced a final Egyptological book Ashort History of Ancient Egypt , 1934; he died in London 2 Jan. 1934. Egyptian Religion, ii, 75, ]EA 20 (1934), 107 (A. H. Gardiner); WWWiii, 1431;j. Hankey, Minerva 5 no. 4 (1994), 16-23
• Gaston Camille Charles Maspero

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates French, 1846–1916
  • Remarks Sir; Egyptologist. Director of the Service des Antiquities. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1846-1916) French Egyptologist, of Italian origin; he was born in Paris, 24 June 1846, son of Miss Adèle Maspero; he was naturalized when very young and educated at the Lycée Louis- le-Grand, 1853-65, and the Ecole Normale, Paris, 1865-7; he was made Professor of Egyptoloy Ecole des Hautes Etudes, 1869, he gained Doct.-ès 1873; appointed professor of Egyptian Philology and Archaeology, Coll. de France, 1874; Maspero became interested in hieroglyphs at the age of 14 while still at school, and in 1867 met Mariette (q.v.), who gave him two newly discovered hieroglyphic texts to study which, he then translated in less than a fortnight; he published these the same year, but his career was temporarily interrupted when he went with a French family to Montevideo and worked on the Inca language Quichua; he returned to France and studied with de Rougé (q.v.); he married 1. Harriet Yapp, 1871 (d. 1873) 2. 1880 Louise Justine Elisabeth Madeleine Catherine Balluet d'Estournelles de Constant de Rebecque; he went to Egypt in 1880, as head of an archaeological mission which later became the IFAO, and organized the work of recording scenes and inscriptions in many important tombs, espec. in the Valley of Kings; he was appointed Director of the Bulaq Museum, succeeding Mariette, 1881-6; also of the Antiquities Service; Mariette when dying had been interested in the opening of the smaller pyramids and Brugsch (q.v.) had discovered and copied the texts in Pepi I and Merenre; Maspero continued this work and opened three more; in all he copied and translated 4,000 lines of inscription, making the first edition of these famous Pyramid Texts ; he was also involved in the removal of the Deir el-Bahari collection of mummies to Cairo Museum, 1881; it is impossible to list all of his great achievements here but the following must be cited: he arranged and catalogued the immense collections in Cairo Museum, regulated excavation throughout Egypt, inaugurated the systematic clearance and preservation of Karnak, and with Lord Cromer's help built up the then embryonic Antiquities Service with five inspectorates for different areas; Maspero returned to France 1886-99, and was again Director in Egypt, 1899-1914, when illness forced him to go back to France in July; under his direction Reisner (q.v.) undertook the Archaeological Survey of Nubia, 1907-9; he acquired many honours, Acad. des Inscriptions, 1883; Hon. Fellow, The Queen's College and Hon DCL, Oxford 1887; Hon. KCMG, 1909; Sec. Perpétuel, Acad. des Inscr., 1914; his activity, industry and learning were enormous, and he held the premier place in Egyptology in his generation; he edited the gigantic Cairo Catalogue which had reached 50 vols. at the time of his death, and the Nubian temples vols. which then numbered 12; he wrote on a very wide variety of subjects and the number of his published works listed in his bib. exceeds that of any other Egyptologist, c. 1200 items; many of these were small or else reviews, his principal works being, L'Inscripion dédicatoire du Temple d'Abydos, 1867; Hymne au Nil 1868; Une Enquête judiciaire à Thébes au temps de la XXe dynastie (i.e. Papyrus Abbott), 1871; Des formes de la conjugaison en égyptian antique en démotique et en copte 1871; Les Pronoms personnels en égyptien, 1872; Du genre épistolaire chez les Eyptiens de I'époque pharaonique, 1872; Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient, 1875, and many later- eds.; Mémoire sur quelques Papyrus du Louvre, 1875 Etudes Egyptiennes-Romans et poésies du papyrus Harris no. 500..., 1879; Etudes Eg.- Etude sur quelques peintures et sur quelques texts relatifs aux funérailles, with le conte d'Apôpi et de Soknouri, 1881; La Trouvaille de Deir-el-Bahari, with E. Brugsch, 1881; Les Contes populaires de L'Egypte ancienne ..., 1882; Guide du visiteur au musée de Boulaq, 1883; La Trouvaille de Deir-el-Bahari, 1883; L' Archéologie éyptienne, 1887, trans. by A. B. Edwards; Les Momies Royales de Deir-el-Bahari, fol., 1889; Trois années de fouilles dans les tombeaux de Thèbes et Memphis, fol., 1889; Catalogue du Musée Egyptien de Marseille, 1889; Histoire ancienne Egypte, Assyrie. 1890, trans. by A. Morton; Fragments de manuscrits coptes-thèbains provenant de, la Bibl. du Deir Amba-Shenoudah. 1892; Les Inscriptions des pyramides deSaqqarah, 4°, 1894; Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient classique, 3 vols., 4-, 1895, 1897, 1899, (trans, and ed. A. H. Sayce as The Dawn of Civilization -Egypt and Chaldea, 1896; The Struggle of the Nations - Egypt, Syria and Assyyia, 1896; The Passing of the Empires, 1900); Fouilles autour de la pyramide d'Ounas, with A. Barsanti, 1900; Guide du visiteur au musée du Caire, 1902; and many eds.; Causeries d'Egypte, 1907; Les Mémoires de Sinouhit..., 1908; New Light on Ancient Egypt, trans. E. Lee, 1908 Sarcophages des époques persane et ptolémaïque, Cairo Cat., 4°, 1908; Egypt: ancient sites and modern scenes, 1910; Essai sur I'art égyptien , 1912; Etudes de mythologie et d'archéologie ég., 8 vols., 1893, 1898, 1900; 1911, 1912, 1913, 1916; Les enseignemets d'Amenemhaît l et à son fils Sanouasrît Ier 1914; he also translated Ebers Egypt, 1880,1881, edited the works of Renouf (q.v.) and as a young man transcribed Champollion's Notices, Maspero's second wife died Paris, 22jan. 1953 aged nearly 100; he died in Paris whilst about to address a meeting of the Academy, 30 june 1916 H. Cordier, Bibliographie de Gaston Maspero, 1922, 127-35, enumerates a long list of obituary notices of Maspero, many with portraits; H. Cordier, Maspero en Amérique, 1920; AE (1916), 145-9 (W. M. F. Petrie); ASAE 16 (1916), 129-40 (portr. Daressy) BSAC I (I 936) 'Gaston Maspero et les études coptes', 27-36 (portr.) (H. Munier); (CRAIBL, 1918 (1917), 445-82 (R. Cagnat); EB IIth ed., 17, 848; EB 1968 ed., 14, 1023 (W. R- Dawson); JEA 3 (1916), 227-34 (portr.) (E. Naville); JEA 33 (1947), 'Letters from Maspero to Amelia Edwards', 66.-89 (portr.) (W. R. Dawson); JMEOS 1915-16,104 (W. M. Crompton); JRAS 1917, 629-31 (L. W. King); La Grande Enc. 23, 362-3 (H. M.); Larousse 7, 144 (portr.); Mélanges Maspero, 3 vols. (I934-53) Mem. IFAO tom. 66-8, Nation 103 New York (I 916), 176-7( J. H. Breasted); Petrie, 27 and passim; PSBA 38 141-5 (G. F. Legge); Réc. (1916), Ric. Trav. 38 (1916), 211-25 (portr.) (E, Chassinat); Rev. Arch. 5e ser., iv (I916), 172-6 (portr.) (E. Naville); Rev. de L'hist. des religions, Nov.-Dec. 1916, 031-264 (A. Moret); Rev. Hist. 1916, 434-40 (A. Moret); Sphinx 21 (1924), 1-11 (G. jéquier); WWWii, 710
• 

  George Andrew Reisner

  • Type Author
  • 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.
• 

  Joseph Lindon Smith

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates American, 1863–1950
  • Remarks Artist /expedition painter and copyist; Daughters Rachael and Frances also painted. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
• Mr. H. Farnall

  • Type Mentioned on page
  • Nationality & Dates
  • Remarks Represented the Ministry of Finance on the Comite d'archaeologie