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The Giza Plateau of Egypt, located about 15 miles southwest of modern Cairo, is one of the most important and famous archaeological sites in the world. It is home to the Great Pyramid, the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing. Built by King Khufu in the Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt’s Old Kingdom (around 2550 BCE), the Great Pyramid was the largest ever constructed in Egypt, originally reaching a height of 481 feet. Two of Khufu’s successors also built major monuments at Giza: Khafre, whose burial complex includes the second-largest pyramid as well as the Great Sphinx; and Menkaure, builder of the smallest of the three pyramids at Giza. As these royal complexes were being constructed, and even for centuries after Egyptian kings began to build their monuments elsewhere, hundreds of tombs were systematically added to cemeteries surrounding the pyramids, to serve as the eternal resting places for the royal family and bureaucratic elite.

Details

  • Excavator
    (Karl) Richard Lepsius, German, 1810–1884
    Abdel Moneim Youssef Abu Bakr, 1907–1976
    Ernesto Schiaparelli, Italian, 1856–1928
    Georg Steindorff, German, 1861–1951
    George Andrew Reisner, American, 1867–1942
    Hermann Junker, German, 1877–1962
    Mark Lehner, American
    Selim Hassan (Bey), Egyptian, 1886–1961
    Sir William Flinders Petrie, British, 1853–1942
    Zahi Hawass, Egyptian

Maps & Plans 8

Published Documents 46

3D Models 1

Videos 2

People 10

Modern People

  • (Karl) Richard Lepsius

    • Type Excavator
    • Nationality & Dates German, 1810–1884
    • Remarks Egyptologist. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
  • Abdel Moneim Youssef Abu Bakr

    • Type Excavator
    • Nationality & Dates 1907–1976
    • Remarks Egyptian Egyptologist.
  • Ernesto Schiaparelli

    • Type Excavator
    • Nationality & Dates Italian, 1856–1928
    • Remarks Turin University; Egyptologist. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
  • Georg Steindorff

    • Type Excavator
    • Nationality & Dates German, 1861–1951
    • Remarks Egyptologist and Copticist. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1861-1951) German Egyptologist and Copticist; he was born in Dessau, 12 Nov. 1861, son of Ludwig S. and Helen S.; he was educated at the Universities of Berlin and Gottingen, and was Erman's (q.v.) first student; Ph.D. Gott., 1884; afterwards appointed assistant in Berlin Museum, 1885-93; Professor of Egyptology at Leipzig, 1893 until 1938, where he founded the Egyptian Institute and filled it with objects from his excavations in Egypt and Nubia; Steindorff made a special study of Coptic and was with Crum (q.v.) the leading authority in the world during his lifetime; he was also interested in art and published books and articles on this subject as well as on Egyptian religion; he explored the Libyan Desert, 1899-1900; excavated at Giza, 1909-1 1, and in Nubia, 1912- 14 and 1930-1; he edited the ZAS for 40 years and contributed many articles to it; his studies in Coptic were of the utmost importance and his Coptic Grammar still remains a standard work of reference and perhaps the most popular ever written in this field; in philology as a whole he was in the first rank and established the rules which are gener- ally accepted for the vocalization of Egyptian; in 1939 he was forced to emigrate to America when the Nazis were in power in Germany, and started another career there at the age of nearly eighty; he continued his studies in the museums of New York, Boston, and Baltimore and the Oriental Institute of Chicago; Hon. Member of American Oriental Soc.; at Baltimore he compiled a 12-vol. MSS Catalogue of Egyptian antiquities in the Walters Art Gallery, which formed the basis for a later pub. work; both his 70th and 80th birthdays were the subject of tributes, see below; his published works are very numerous and his bibl. lists about 250 books, articles, and reviews, the first of which appeared in 1883, the last in the year of his death nearly 70 years later; Sassanidische Siegelsteine, with P. Horn, 1891; Koptische Grammatik mit Chrestomathie, Worterverzeichnis und Literatur, 1894, rev. ed. 1904; Grabfunde des Mittleren Reiches in den Koniglichen Museen zu Berlin. I. Das Grab des Mentuhotep, 1896; Die Apokalypse des Elias, eine unbekannte Apokalypse und Bruchstücke der Sophonias-Apokalypse. Koptische Text, Ubersetzung, Glossar, 1899; Die Blütezeit des Pharaonenreiches, 1900, rev. ed. 1926; Grabfunde des Mitt, Reiches in den Koniglichen Mus, zu Berlin, II. Der Sarg des Sebk-o. Ein Grabfund aus Gebelên, 1901; Durch die Libysche Wüste zur Amonoase, 1904; The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, 1905; Koptische Rechtsurkunden des Achten Jahrhunderts aus Djëme, Theben, with W. E. Crum, 1912; Das Grab des Ti. Veroffentlichungen der Ernst von Sieglin Expedition in Agypten, vol. 2, 1913; Aegyten in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, 1915; Kurzer Abriss der Koptischen Grammatik mit Lesestücken und W?rterveyzeichnis, 1921;Die Kunst derAegypter. Bauten,Plaslik, Kunstgewerbe, 1928; Aniba, 1. Band with R. Heidenreich, F. Kretschmar, A. Langsdorff, and W. Wolf, 11. Band with M. Marcks, H. Schleif, and W. Wolf, 1935-7; Die Thebanische Graberwelt, with W. Wolf, 1936; When Egypt Ruled the East, with K. C. Seele, 1942; Egypt, text of Hoyningen-Huene, 1943; Catalogue of the Egyptian Sculpture in the Walters Art Gallery, 1946; Lehrbuch der Koptischen Grammatik, 1951; while in America he also wrote a Coptic-Egyptian Etymological Dictionary; The Origin of the Coptic Language and Literature: Prolegomena to the Coptic Grammar; The Proverbs of Solomon in Akhmimic Coptic according to a Papyrus in the State Library in Berlin, with a Coptic-Greek Glossary compiled by Carl Schmidt, he also edited many editions of Baedeker's Egypt, making it a standard work for all travellers and the best general guide available; he died in Hollywood, California, 28 Aug. 1951. AEB 28, 29; Bulletin Issued by. the Egyptian Educ. Bureau, London, n(. 58, Sept. 1951. 25 (anon);Chron. D'Eg.27 (I952), 391;JA0S 61 (1941), 288-9, Eightieth Anniversary. of Prof.Steindorff,J.H Breasted Jnr.;66.(1946), 76-87, The Writings of Georg Steindroff , J.H.Breasted Jnr.; 67 (1947) , 141-2,326-7; JEA 38 (1952), 2; Kürschner Corr .; The Times , 30 Aug. 1951; ZAS67 (1931), 1, Seventieth Birthday Tribute; ZAS79 (1954) , V-VI (portr.)(S.Morenz); E. Blumenthal,Altes ?gypten in Leipzig, 1918, 15-31 .
  • George Andrew Reisner

    • Type Excavator
    • 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.
  • Hermann Junker

    • Type Excavator
    • Nationality & Dates German, 1877–1962
    • Remarks Egyptologist, Director of German-Austrian expedition to Giza, 1911–1929. Published 12 volumes of final excavation reports from Giza expedition. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
  • Mark Lehner

    • Type Excavator
    • Nationality & Dates American
    • Remarks Director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA) and Giza Plateau Mapping Project (GPMP).
  • Selim Hassan (Bey)

    • Type Excavator
    • 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.
  • Sir William Flinders Petrie

    • Type Excavator
    • Nationality & Dates British, 1853–1942
    • Remarks Father of British Egyptology.
  • Zahi Hawass

    • Type Excavator
    • Nationality & Dates Egyptian
    • Remarks Former Minister of State for Antiquities and Secretary General of Supreme Council of Antiquities