About the project
Who Was Who in Egyptology is a comprehensive biographical repository for major figures in the history of Egyptology. It contains entries on Egyptologists, explorers, archaeologists, field workers, collectors, and other individuals active in the field. The work was originally compiled by Warren R. Dawson and Eric P. Uphill and was later revised by Morris L. Bierbrier. The current project is overseen by Hana Navratilova.
Historically, the information was provided via printed publication providing concise biographical summaries of careers and lists of select publications of individuals from 1700 to the present day. However, the current project plans to transfer these entries to an online database for searching across entries and linking between other online established repositories. Switching to an online format will enable:
- wider audiences to utilise this important research tool freely
- an opportunity to incorporate multi-vocality within the entries, for example by linking to archival material held by the Egypt Exploration Society
- the inclusion of a wider range of individuals who have contributed to the field of Egyptology, broadly defined as ‘the study of Egyptian cultural heritage’. As such, entries need not be limited by time or space in their inclusion.
Current efforts to incorporate a diverse range of professionals from across the South West Asia and North African area represent a vital step toward a more inclusive and accurate representation of the field of Egyptology. Through collaborative efforts, strategic planning, and community engagement, the Who Was Who in Egyptology project seeks to honour the diverse contributions that have shaped the discipline.
Editors
Who Was Who in Egyptology is overseen by an honorary Editor who compiles entries based on published obituaries and information shared by colleagues, friends, and families. We are indebted to all those who have provided such information over the years.
Hana Navratilova (Editor from 2024)
Czech-British Egyptologist and historian; specialises in study of secondary epigraphy, and in the late 19th and 20th century history of Egyptology. Works at the sites of Dahshur and Abusir, and with the epigraphy records from Abydos.
Morris L. Bierbrier (Editor 1984-2024)
Canadian Egyptologist; long-term member and officer of the EES, researcher and assistant keeper, the British Museum; participated in fieldwork in Ashmunein and Karnak; he oversaw a significant expansion of the contents of Who Was Who in Egyptology.
Eric P. Uphill (Editor 1968-1984)
British Egyptologist; taught extensively at the University of London, particularly involved in the continuing education courses; officer of the EES, contributed to Who Was Who in Egyptology’s second edition and then continued in the editorial role.
Warren R. Dawson (Editor 1930s-1968)
English historian and broker; historian with wide interests ranging from the history of Lloyds Bank to ancient Egypt; began to collect biographical information on Egyptologists in the interwar period, developing the idea of a biographical dictionary; the first edition of Who Was Who in Egyptology appeared in 1951.
Current research and resources
Current effort include incorporating a diverse range of professionals from across the South West Asia and North African area represent a vital step toward a more inclusive and accurate representation of the field of Egyptology. Through collaborative efforts, strategic planning, and community engagement, the Who Was Who in Egyptology project seeks to honour the diverse contributions that have shaped the discipline.
Various scholars around the world continue to carry out biographical research to analyse the impact of individuals on the development of Egyptology. Below are a selection of resources offering both traditional and innovative investigations about major figures in the history of Egyptology.
Select Bibliography
Abt, Jeffrey. American Egyptologist: The Life of James Henry Breasted and the Creation of His Oriental Institute. University of Chicago Press, 2011.
Adams, John M. The Millionaire and the Mummies: Theodore Davis’s Gilded Age in the Valley of the Kings. First edition. St. Martin’s Press, 2013.
Arian Levi, Giorgina. Simeone Levi: la storia sconosciuta di un noto egittologo. With Emanuele Viterbo. Ananke, 1999.
Ascani, Karen, Paola Buzi, and Daniela Picchi. The Forgotten Scholar: Georg Zoëga (1755-1809) : At the Dawn of Egyptology and Coptic Studies. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, Volume 74. Brill, 2015.
Beckh, Thomas. Die Entdeckung Ägyptens: die Geschichte der Ägyptologie in Porträts. With Gregor Neunert. Philipp von Zabern, Imprint der WBG, 2014.
Bickel, Susanne, Lutz Popko, and Nicolas Berg. Ägyptologen und Ägyptologien zwischen Kaiserreich und Gründung der beiden deutschen Staaten: Reflexionen zur Geschichte und Episteme eines altertumswissenschaftlichen Fachs im 150. Jahr der Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde. Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde. Beiheft 1. Akademie Verlag GmbH, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1524/9783050063416.
Blumenthal, Elke. Georg Steindorff: Stationen eines Lebens. Kleine Schriften, Band 11. Manetho Verlag, 2017.
Botti, Marco. Dal Monte Rosa alla terra dei faraoni: Giuseppe Botti, una vita per i papiri dell’antico Egitto. Tangram, 2011.
Bourguet, Pierre. Étienne Drioton, 1889-1961. Imprimerie de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 1962.
Buck, Adriaan de, B. A. van Proosdij, and Jozef M. A. Janssen. Als een goet instrument: leven en werken van professor A. De Buck. Brill, 1960.
Champollion-Figeac, Aimé Louis. Les deux Champollions, leur vie et leurs oeuvres: leur correspondance archéologique relative au Dauphiné et à l’Égypte. Cambridge library collection. Archaeology. University Press, 2015.
Clair, Colin. Strong Man Egyptologist; Being the Dramatized Story of Givoanni Belzoni. [Close-up Biographies]. Oldbourne, 1957.
Clayden, Peter William. Samuel Sharpe, Egyptologist and Translator of the Bible. ., 1883.
Clayton, Peter A. Giovanni Belzoni, 1778-1823, un pioniere dell’Egittologia. With J. Harper. Società Cooperativa Tipografica, 1982.
Cline, Eric H. Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology. With Glynnis Fawkes. Princeton University Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.23943/9780691184258.
Crook, D. P. Grafton Elliot Smith, Egyptology & the Diffusion of Culture: A Biographical Perspective. Sussex Academic Press, 2012.
Der Manuelian, Peter. Walking among Pharaohs: George Reisner and the Dawn of Modern Egyptology. Oxford University Press, 2022.
Drower, Margaret S. Flinders Petrie: A Life in Archaeology. V. Gollancz, 1985.
Eaton-Krauss, Marianne. Bernard V. Bothmer, Egyptologist in the Making, 1912 through July 1946: With Bothmer’s Own Account of His ‘Escape from Central Europe’ in October 1941. With Bernard V. Bothmer. Investigatio Orientis ; Band 3. Zaphon, 2019.
Faure, Alain. Champollion: le savant déchiffré. Fayard, 2004.
Gertzen, Thomas L. Jean Pierre Adolphe Erman und die Begründung der Ägyptologie als Wissenschaft. 1. Auflage. Jüdische Miniaturen (Hentrich & Hentrich) ; Band 180. Hentrich & Hentrich, 2015.
Gertzen, Thomas L. Judentum und Konfession in der Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Ägyptologie. De Gruyter, 2017.
Gertzen, Thomas L. Nathaniel Julius Reich: Arbeit im Turm zu Babel. 1. Auflage. With Wolf B. Oerter and Stiftung ‘Neue Synagoge Berlin-Centrum Judaicum’. Jüdische Miniaturen ; Band 197. Hentrich & Hentrich, 2017.
Graves, Carl. Amelia B Edwards: The ’queen of Egyptology’ : Spotlight on EES.ART.ABE. Egypt Exploration Society, 2025.
Graves, Carl. Howard Carter: From Tracer to Tutankhamun : Spotlight on EES.ART.224. Egypt Exploration Society, 2024.
Hall, Rosalind M. Lord Grenfell: An Amateur Egyptologist. 1984.
Hankey, Julie. A Passion for Egypt: Arthur Weigall, Tutankhamun, and the ‘Curse of the Pharaohs’. Tauris Parke, 2007.
Hendrickx, Stan. Barbara Adams: Egyptologist Based at the Petrie Museum. With Barbara Adams and Petrie Museum of Egyptology. 2002.
James, T. G. H. Howard Carter: The Path to Tutankhamun. Rev, pbk. Ed. Taurus Parke Paperbacks, 2006.
Jones, Margaret C. The Adventurous Life of Amelia B. Edwards: Egyptologist, Novelist, Activist. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350293984.
Juret, Michèle. Étienne Drioton: l’Egypte, une passion : dans les pas d’Auguste Mariette Pacha et Gaston Maspero. Louis, 2013.
Kamil, Jill. Labib Habachi: The Life and Legacy of an Egyptologist. American University in Cairo Press, 2007.
Laissus, Yves. Jomard, le dernier Egyptien, 1777-1862. Fayard, 2004.
Lee, Christopher C.... The Grand Piano Came by Camel: Arthur C. Mace, the Neglected Egyptologist. Mainstream Publishing, 1992.
Manley, Deborah. Henry Salt: Artist, Traveller, Diplomat, Egyptologist. With Peta Rée. Libri, 2001.
Marshall, Amandine. Auguste Mariette. Bibliothèque des introuvables, 2010.
Moon, Brenda E. More Usefully Employed: Amelia B. Edwards, Writer, Traveller and Campaigner for Ancient Egypt. With Egypt Exploration Society. Occasional Publications 15. Egypt Exploration Society, 2006.
Morrell, Robert. ‘Budgie--’: The Life of Sir E.A.T. Wallace [Sic] Budge, Egyptologist - Assyriologist - Keeper of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, 1892 to 1924. R. Morrell, 2002.
Navratilova, Hana. A Citizen of Nowhere: Jaroslav Černý, Egyptologist (1898-1979): A Journey through the Twentieth Century. Peeters, 2023.
Navratilova, Hana, Thomas L. Gertzen, Marleen De Meyer, Aidan Dodson, and Andrew Bednarski. Addressing Diversity: Inclusive Histories of Egyptology. Investigatio Orientis : Beiträge Zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte Der Orientalistik, Band 9. Zaphon, 2023.
Olson, Lynne. Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt’s Ancient Temples from Destruction. 1st ed. Scribe Publications, 2023.
Onderka, Pavel. V zahradě Sennedžemově: Jaroslav Černý, egyptolog. With Hana Navrátilová, Jaroslav Černý, Sandro Vannini, Praha Národní museum, 2019.
Parra, José Miguel. Howard Carter: una vida. Vidas y memorias. Confluencias, 2020.
Raven, Maarten J. The Most Prominent Dutchman in Egypt: Jan Herman Insinger and the Egyptian Collection in Leiden. Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities 19. Sidestone Press, 2018.
Rawnsley, H. D. (Hardwicke Drummond). The Resurrection of Oldest Egypt: Being the Story of Abydos as Told by the Discoveries of Petrie. With Noel Rawnsley and W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders) Petrie. Beaver Press, 1904.
Rees, Joan. Amelia Edwards: Traveller, Novelist & Egyptologist. Rubicon Press, 1998.
Robinson, Andrew. Cracking the Egyptian Code: The Revolutionary Life of Jean-François Champollion. Compact paperback edtion. Thames & Hudson, 2018.
Robinson, Andrew. Last Man Who Knew Everything: Thomas Young, the Anonymous Polymath Who Proved Newton Wrong, Explained How We See, Cured the Sick, and Deciphered the Rosetta Stone, Among Other Feats of Genius. 1st ed. With Martin Rees. Open Book Publishers, 2023. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0344.
Růžová, Jiřina. Písař Místa pravdy: Život egyptologa Jaroslava Černého. Faculty of Arts of the Charles University, 2010.
Seyler, Dorothy U. The Obelisk and the Englishman: The Pioneering Discoveries of Egyptologist William Bankes. Prometheus Books, 2015.
Shaw, Ian. Sir John Gardner Wilkinson, Pioneer Egyptologist: The Harrow School Collection of Egyptian Antiquities. With Harrow School Old Speech Room Gallery. Herga, 1991.
Sheppard, Kathleen. The Life of Margaret Alice Murray: A Woman’s Work in Archaeology. 1st ed. With Bloomsbury. Lexington Books, 2013. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781978737204.
Sheppard, Kathleen. Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age. St Martin’s Press, 2024.
Thomasson, Fredrik. The Life of J.D. Åkerblad: Egyptian Decipherment and Orientalism in Revolutionary Times. Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History, v. 213. Brill, 2013.
Thompson, Jason. Edward William Lane, 1801-1876 the Life of the Pioneering Egyptologist and Orientalist. American University in Cairo Press, 2010.
Thompson, Jason. Sir Gardner Wilkinson and His Circle. University of Texas Press, 1992. https://doi.org/10.7560/776432.
Voss, Susanne, and Dietrich Raue, eds. Georg Steindorff und die deutsche Ägyptologie im 20. Jahrhundert : Wissenshintergründe und Forschungstransfers. De Gryuter, 2016.
Young, Lee. An Artist in Abydos: The Life and Letters of Myrtle Broome. With Myrtle Broom. American University in Cairo Press, 2021.