Egyptology is a comprehensive program for all pioneers of Pharaonic civilization
Egyptian scholars, historians, and researchers, Egyptian and foreign. What are the sources of the study of Egyptian civilization? What are the means of research on the archaeology of ancient Egypt?
It is one of the branches of archaeology and civilization, which specializes in the study of the history and civilization of Egypt in all its history from prehistoric times to the present day, and all its political, social, linguistic, cultural, religious, and literary aspects… and so on
This modern science was born with the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, which revealed the secrets of hieroglyphics in 1821 by Jean François Champollion, followed by many scholars from all over Europe and the West, and gradually created a huge material that redesigned and developed a great cultural history of Ancient Egyptians over thousands of years.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Egyptology began to take a precise academic form and became a professional discipline thanks to the work of William Flinders Petrie, who developed a new technique of conservation, classification, tabulation, and study, then came the efforts of other scientists and entered modern technology and techniques into this science.
This science grew by focusing on the ancient Egyptian civilization and may have included Egyptian science, the last edges of ancient Egypt in classical times (Greek, Hellenistic and Roman) and the Byzantine and Coptic era of Egypt, and then expanded to include Islamic Egypt as part of this science, as some writers and scholars (see Dominique) go further and add to it all that remains of the modern contemporary history of Egypt, and it is still under discussion.
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Fields of Egyptology:
Fields of Egyptology include:
- Prehistory in Egypt
- Antiquity until Islam entered Egypt and then included the entire history of Egypt
- Archaeology of the above-mentioned periods
- Anthropology and Ethnography.
- Natural and human geography
- Ancient Egyptian language, writing and texts
- All aspects of Egyptian civilization
There are those who believe that the beginning of Egyptology belongs to Baron Dominique Vivan Denon (D.V. Denon), who accompanied the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt when he published his book Travels to Upper and Lower Egypt in 1801, which was reprinted forty times and translated into English and German.
The beautiful drawings of Denon had a great impact on attracting attention to the magic of Egyptian civilization, and Napoleon had read the book and sent two scientific missions to study and draw Egyptian antiquities and follow the research of Denon.
The second crucial and important book, which came as a result of the scientific missions, is the book (Description of Egypt), published between 1809 and 1822, which included 907 paintings and more than 3,000 illustrations co-written by 200 artists, and the book was a verse of beauty and information.
This book opened the appetite of antique thieves, adventurers, money seekers and the fame of going to Egypt and looting its antiquities, and the French consul in Egypt was even the first of them when he transferred to the Turin Museum a huge number of Egyptian antiquities, which are priceless, and the huge statues of the great Pharaohs. The thieves then filled the Louvre, Paris and Berlin museums with Egyptian antiquities.
Such a consul did it in Britain (Henry Salt), sent it to the British Museum and sent others to the Cambridge Museum. The Italian Giovanni Belzoni surpassed everyone else and dismantled and transported many Egyptian temples as well as statues, papyri, obelisks and fountains.
This is how Egyptology began among the thieves and scholars of Western Europe, to the extent that there are those who believe that the traces of Egypt outside of the country are now more than their effects at home.
Pioneers of Egyptology
Egyptology – Jean François Champollion:
In 1820, Champollion embarked on a hieroglyphic decoding project and soon overlooked the achievements of the British Polymeth Thomas Young, who had made the first developments in decryption before 1819. In 1822, he published his first work in the decoding of the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone.
In 1824, he published a brief book detailing the decoding of hieroglyphics. In 1829, he went to Egypt, where he was able to read many hieroglyphics hitherto unedited, and died in Paris in 1832, at the age of 41. Ancient Egyptian grammar was published after his death.
Champollion announced to the Egyptian Academy on February 27, 1822, that he had been able to decipher the hieroglyphics through the (Rosetta Stone), which was written in the demotic writing that was made in the Hellenistic period, the last stage of ancient Egyptian writing (hieroglyphics, hieratic, demotic).
Today, there are those who believe that Champollion’s knowledge of the book of Ibn Wahshaya al-Nabati (Desire for Inspiration in the Knowledge of the Symbols of the Scriptures), in which the decoding of certain symbols of Egyptian writing helped him, as well as his knowledge of Coptic writing, in which six ancient Egyptian letters are Greek, also helped him.
The Rosetta Stone’s engravings dating from the eighth year of the reign of Ptolemy V (205-182 BC).
found in the Rosetta region west of the Nile Delta, and contained a text written in hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek; Champollion realized that the name did not change in the three writings. That is why he followed the symbols of Ptolemy in the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra in the obelisk of Philae, and began to decipher letters and passages.
Champollion put his later revelations in the book “Ancient Egyptian Grammar,” “Dictionary and Principles of the Hieroglyphic Writing System,” and “The Monument of Egypt and Nubia.”
Carl Richard Lepsius:
He is a German scientist who learned to read hieroglyphics and studied the effects of Egypt in England, Italy and the Netherlands, then went to Egypt and the result of his research was the publication of a large encyclopedia (Discoveries in Abyssinian Egypt) with (21) volumes published between (1849-1856) and included 894 paintings of great measure, this book and the book (Description of Egypt) of the French archaeological mission and the book (Monument in Egypt and Nubia). Champollion is one of the most important classical references of Egyptology.
John Gardener Wilkinson:
He is the founder of Egyptology in Britain and was the first to write in the daily life of the ancient Egyptians in his 1837 book The Methods and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.
He studied the history of ancient Egypt, presented to Egypt in 1821 at the age of 24, he remained in the country for 12 consecutive years. Wilkinson almost all visited well-known ancient Egyptian sites. He skillfully recorded inscriptions and paintings as a talented painter and collected prolific observations.
Wilkinson finally returned to England for his health in 1833 and succeeded in being elected to the Royal Society in 1834, where he published his research in many publications. His most important book, “The Customs and Traditions of the Ancient Egyptians”, was published in its first edition (three tomes) in 1837, then published its distinctive second edition, which was completed by Joseph Bonomi, and the book resonated greatly in scientific and official circles, which was why Wilkinson won the title of “Sir” in 1839, and high scientific status as the first distinguished British Egyptologist.
Sir John Gardener Wilkinson returned to Egypt in 1842; he published a revised and complete edition of his book “The Reliefs”, entitled Muslim Egypt and Thebes.
Egyptology – Auguste Mariette (1821-1881):
He is the second founder of Egyptology in the strict scientific sense; he founded the Department of Egyptian Antiquities in 1858, the Egyptian Museum of Bolaq, then Giza and Cairo, thus establishing the national basis of Egyptology in Egypt itself, which has this great heritage.
He was a great archaeologist whose most important excavations were the excavations of Memphis and the cemetery of the Calves of Hapi or the Tomb of the Calves (Serapium), the Temple of Deir El Bahari, in addition to some monuments in the Temple of Karnak and the Temple of Habu in Luxor, as well as the discovery of the statue of Chephren in Giza, the statue of the seated scribe in Sakkara, and the statue of Sheikh El balad in Sakkara. When Mariette (Pasha) died, he was buried in a Pharaonic Tombs in the garden of the Egyptian Museum, and wrote an important book, The History of the Ancient Egyptians.
Gaston Maspéro (1846-1916):
Gaston Maspero succeeded Auguste Mariette on the seat of the director of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities and curator of the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Bolaq, completed the excavations of Sakkara by Mariette, became interested in Egyptian texts, collected 4,000 lines, founded the French Institute of Antiquities in Cairo and became its director, revealed the treasures of Karnak containing hundreds of statues and he cleaned the Sphinx, but his name is widely associated with the temple of Deir El Bahari in Luxor.
Maspéro was an enemy of Egyptian antiquities thieves, fought them, returned looted antiquities and mummies to Egypt, promulgated the Egyptian Antiquities Law, which allowed only authorized scientific missions, and discovered the huge mummies discovered in the cachette of Deir El Bahari. This Egyptologist was one of the most faithful scholars of Egypt, its civilization, and its heritage.
Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) William Mathew Flinders Petrie:
He is one of the greatest Egyptologists who put an end to the chaos that entered this science, put this science on new scientific pillars and left more than one trace between a book and an article, and discovered the only statue of the King Cheops in Abydos, perhaps his most important book is 70 Years of Archaeology published in 1931. He dug up in Abydos and Amarna and discovered many monuments.
He was the first to discover the construction engineering methods of the pyramids of Giza, in addition to conducting several research projects in the field of archaeological excavations in the Tanis region (San al-Hajar in Sharkia province) and the Tel Nisha region in the Nile Delta.
Petrie realized the greatest importance of tabulation in chronological order by conducting his excavations at Nocratis. The importance of the layers and depths of the excavations in the classification of the historical sequence of antiquities. He managed to determine the date of construction of the monuments he had found. He tried to determine the age of temples and buildings by connecting them to sedimentary layers.
Fortunately, many light effects on different depths consist of jars, coins and engraved objects that are easy to determine their age from the texts engraved on them if they are well read. This trend was completely new and was not used in Egypt before Petrie.
George Reisner:
The most important American archaeologist, he excavated the pyramids of Giza and discovered the tomb of Queen Hetep Heres, Cheops’ mother near the Great Pyramid. He also dealt with Nubian antiquities and worked with other scientists in the discovery of pre-dynastic tombs and the translation of the Hearst medical papyrus and worked as a professor of Egyptology at Harvard University.
Reisner remembers his discovery of the Royal Cemetery of the Kings of the 25th Dynasty in El Kab, as well as his discovery of the architectural development and funerary customs of the tombs of the ancestors and kings of the 25th Dynasty.
Howard Carter (1874–1939)
A British archaeologist, he then studied the history of ancient Egypt closely, working at many archaeological sites in areas such as: Tal al-Ammarna, Deir El Bahari, Edfu and Abu Simbel. His efforts were distinguished in the discovery of monuments related to Queen Hatshepsut, the most famous queen of Egypt of the eighteenth dynasty, in the temple of Deir El Bahari in 1899.
He became world famous after the discovery of Tomb of Tutankhamun (colloquially known as “King King Tutankhamun” and “The Boy King”), in November 1922.
Carter wrote several books on Egyptology during his career. During these years he also received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Yale University and an honorary member of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid.
Egyptology – Edouard Naville (1844-1926):
Born in Geneva, a Swiss scientist studied at the University of Geneva, King’s College London and the universities of Bonn, Paris and Berlin. He was a pupil of Carl Richard Lepsius and later his executive. He visited Egypt in 1865 to begin his journey to discover ancient Egypt and excavate antiquities. He has worked in archaeological areas, the most important of which is “Tel Basta” near the province of Sharqia today.
He excavated the funerary temple of Hatshepsut and Deir El Bahari, where he was assisted by David George Hogarth, Sommers Clark, and Howard Carter. In 1903, he returned to explore the Temple of King Monthuhotep II, with the help of Henry Hall. In 1910 he worked at the Royal Cemetery of Abydos and his last excavation work was at the Osirion in Abydos, left incomplete at the beginning of the First World War.
He worked on the detection and translation of solar texts (the texts of the God “Ra”, the sun god in resurrection and immortality) and the Book of the Dead of the Egyptians (The Book of the Other World).
He has received numerous international awards and decorations and has been the author of countless publications, both for his excavations and for his textual studies.
Naville was an old-school archaeologist, who is interested in clearing the site on a large scale and little attention to the detailed evidence that can be found during excavations. In his life, he was criticized by W.M. Flinders Petrie for his archaeological methods, and Dr. J. Hogarth was sent by the Egypt Drilling Fund to monitor and report on the nature of his work in Deir al-Bahri.
His published reports are evidence of a lack of detail, but it is also typical of many archaeological practices of the time.
Alfred Lucas (1867–1945):
An English archaeologist, who developed the first building block to study the chemical analysis of minerals and antique parts, began his scientific career analyzing food and medicine at the Government Laboratory in London. He joined the Egyptian government. The fruits of these various experiments produced materials for “forensic chemistry,” the title of his book.
He was very good at analyzing many samples that he was able to detect in some fossils, in addition to documenting ways to preserve antiquities and protect them from damage resulting from various environmental and chemical factors, and one of his most famous works in the field of restoration is the book: Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries.
Rodolphe Kasser (1927 – 2013)
Swiss nationality, manuscript scientist. Egyptologist and one of the most prominent Coptic linguists, the fourth writing of ancient Egyptian calligraphy and the fifth stage of the ancient Egyptian language, characterized by a prolific production of references and studies in Coptic dialects.
From 1964 to 2005, the most important period of his life was the richness of his life in the field of fatherhood and research in Coptic sciences, with the publication of several important Greek and Coptic manuscripts, including 18 publications published between 2001 and 2008 in English, some of which were kept in the Boldwin Library (the main research library of the University of Oxford and the second most great library of Great Britain after the British Library); most of them were Bibles.
Stephen Quirke
A British national, one of the leading scholars specializing in the study of the ancient Egyptian language, he is currently Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Archaeology at University College London. He worked at the British Museum (1989-1998) and since 1999 at the Petrie Museum in London. He has published numerous books, some of which have been translated into other languages.
One of his most important hieroglyphic works was Life after death in ancient Egypt and the cult of Ra: The cult of the sun in ancient Egypt: The cult of the sun in ancient Egypt from the pyramids to Cleopatra, Who are the pharaohs: a guide to their names, their rule and their dynasties, Hidden Hands: Egyptian labor in the excavation archives.
He contributed to the excavations and excavations in Lahoon, Fayum governorate, and documented the public life of the inhabitants of this region in the fields of the nature of education, the life of women and children, medicine, etc.
Egyptian scientists in Egypt
Other scholars attest to references in our book and other books specializing in the history, civilization, and antiquities of Egypt, whether they come from Egypt, Arabs in general or foreigners.
Sources of the Study of Egyptian Civilization and Egyptian Women’s Science
- Antiquities: Archaeology is the basis of Egyptian science, it is the real material on this history and civilization, and Egyptian monuments on two types: fixed such as pyramids, temples, obelisks, tombs, etc., and transported such as small statues, amulets, papyri etc.,
These relics were edited and written by prominent Egyptian scientists.
The first writings and symbols of the first Egyptian kings began in the form of maps or small slabs of ivory and wood, then turned to stone, where we find the history of the first dynasties, and appeared on the leaves of papyrus and on the walls of temples and tombs, most of which immortalized the names of kings and their stories and news, including a tablet (Narmer, which speaks of the unification of Egypt, the Palermo stone, the table of kings in Abydos, the famous papyri, which became called the names of their owners and discoverers, and the statements copied from the students who bore their dates and memories, which reproduced goods that were absent from us.
There is no doubt that the texts of the pyramids, coffins and the dead formed a rich bumper of history, legends and science, as well as the slabs of Tal Al-Amarna and many others.
- Greek and Roman books: Books by Greek and other historians about ancient Egypt need to be examined and examined because of some of the errors made by oral tales.
- The writings of Manethon : The Hellenistic Egyptian priest who lived between the reign of King Ptolemy I and II and was well acquainted with hieroglyphics and the Ionian language, and his book (History of Egypt), which he commissioned by Ptolemy I, is one of the most important sources, and only nuggets remain after the burning of the library of Alexandria in 47 BC. , who divided the history of Egypt into 31 dynasties, and collected his information in the libraries of temples and inscriptions of their walls and folk tales on the course of their kings.
Research Methods in Egyptology
- Research centers: these are the many scientific centers scattered around the world specializing in Egyptology and funded by governments or civil entities and include specialists, professionals, amateurs, students and researchers, and teamwork has become dominant today, whereas individualism prevailed before, and direct or indirect contact with scientists (through access to research and its results) is the right path.
- Documents and archives: documents of archaeological missions, results of excavations, detailed data and reports, archived in precise and fixed electronic files and everything that is new.
- Detailed bibliography of all documents, research, and data.
- Real detailed scientific encyclopedias in all languages.
- Dictionaries and dictionaries specialized in the science of Egyptology.
- Scientific publication in specialized volumes and periodicals.
- The scientific conferences, which began in an orderly and comprehensive manner since 1976, when the first International Conference of Egyptology was held in Cairo, were held in the presence only of orientalists, and in this conference was created the International Federation of Egyptology, which publishes an annual guide to its members and an annual bibliography, then held in Grenoble, Toronto, Munich, Cairo. This conference is one of the most important scientific conferences whose researches have reached about 500 researches with the participation of thousands of specialized and professional members.
- Dissemination of knowledge and specialized and academic studies.
Scientific institutions supporting Egyptology:
- Specialized universities and postgraduate studies.
- Independent research authority.
- International museums.
- Funded and Supporting Organizations
- Promotion, antiques, and tourism companies.
Author & Writer Egyptology: Tamer Ahmed Abd elfatah Yousif
References Egyptology: The Book of Egyptian Civilization, Egypt
Currency in Ancient Egypt
