Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Karl Richard Lepsius" - New World

From New World Encyclopedia
({{Contracted}})
(Submitted)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Claimed}}{{Started}}{{Contracted}}
+
{{Claimed}}{{Started}}{{Contracted}}{{Submitted}}{{Images OK}}
 
[[Category:Politics and social sciences]]
 
[[Category:Politics and social sciences]]
 
[[Category:Anthropology]]
 
[[Category:Anthropology]]
Line 6: Line 6:
 
[[Image:Carl Richard Lepsius (1810-1884).jpg|thumb|150px|right|Karl Richard Lepsius 1810 – 1884]]
 
[[Image:Carl Richard Lepsius (1810-1884).jpg|thumb|150px|right|Karl Richard Lepsius 1810 – 1884]]
  
'''Karl Richard Lepsius''' (born December 23, 1810 – died July 10, 1884) was a [[Germany|German]] [[archeology|archaeologist]] and [[linguistics|linguist]], one of the founders of the modern [[science|scientific]] discipline of [[Egyptology]].  
+
'''Karl Richard Lepsius''' (December 23, 1810 – July 10, 1884) was a [[Germany|German]] [[archeology|archaeologist]] and [[linguistics|linguist]], one of the founders of the modern [[science|scientific]] discipline of [[Egyptology]].  
  
 
==Biography==
 
==Biography==
  
 
===Early life===
 
===Early life===
Karl R. Lepsius was born in Naumburg, Saxony (now in [[Germany]]), the third son of Karl Peter Lepsius  and Friedericke Glaser. He studied [[Greece|Greek]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[archeology]] at the universities of  [[Leipzig]] (1829-1830), [[Göttingen]] (1830-1832), and [[Berlin]] (1832-1833). After receiving his doctorate following his dissertation ''De tabulis Eugubinis'' in 1833, he traveled to [[Paris]] where attended lectures by the [[France|French]] classicist [[Jean Letronne]], an early disciple of [[Jean-François Champollion]] and his work on the [[decipherment]] of the [[Egyptian language]]. Lepsius also visited Egyptian collections all over Europe and studied [[lithography]] and [[engraving]].
+
Karl R. Lepsius was born on December 23, 1818 in Naumburg, Saxony (now in [[Germany]]), the third son of Karl Peter Lepsius  and Friedericke Glaser. He studied [[Greece|Greek]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[archeology]] at the universities of  [[Leipzig]] (1829-1830), [[Göttingen]] (1830-1832), and [[Berlin]] (1832-1833). After receiving his doctorate following his dissertation ''De tabulis Eugubinis'' in 1833, he traveled to [[Paris]] where attended lectures by the [[France|French]] classicist [[Jean Letronne]], an early disciple of [[Jean-François Champollion]] and his work on the [[decipherment]] of the [[Egyptian language]]. Lepsius also visited Egyptian collections all over Europe and studied [[lithography]] and [[engraving]].
  
 
===Explorations in Egypt===
 
===Explorations in Egypt===
Line 33: Line 33:
 
Lepsius published widely on the [[culture]] of [[Ancient Egypt]], and is considered one of the founders of modern [[science|scientific]] discipline of [[Egyptology]]. Much of his work is fundamental to the field. Lepsius even coined the phrase ''Totenbuch'' ("[[Book of the Dead]]"). He was also a leader in the field of [[Africa]]n [[linguistics]], though his ideas are now mainly considered to be outdated. Based on his work in the ancient Egyptian language, and his field work in the [[Sudan]], Lepsius developed a Standard Alphabet for [[Transliteration|transliterating]] African languages, which was published in 1855 and revised in 1863.  
 
Lepsius published widely on the [[culture]] of [[Ancient Egypt]], and is considered one of the founders of modern [[science|scientific]] discipline of [[Egyptology]]. Much of his work is fundamental to the field. Lepsius even coined the phrase ''Totenbuch'' ("[[Book of the Dead]]"). He was also a leader in the field of [[Africa]]n [[linguistics]], though his ideas are now mainly considered to be outdated. Based on his work in the ancient Egyptian language, and his field work in the [[Sudan]], Lepsius developed a Standard Alphabet for [[Transliteration|transliterating]] African languages, which was published in 1855 and revised in 1863.  
  
Lepsius was the editor of the ''Zeitschrift für ägyptisches Sprache und Altertumskunde'', a fundamental [[science|scientific]] [[journal]] for the new field of [[Egyptology]], which remains in print to this day. While at the editorial helm, Lepsius commissioned typographer [[Ferdinand Theinhardt]] (on behalf of the Königlich-Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin) to cut the first hieroglyphic typeface, the so-called "Theinhardt font", which remains in use today.
+
Lepsius was the editor of the ''Zeitschrift für ägyptisches Sprache und Altertumskunde'', a fundamental [[science|scientific]] [[journal]] for the new field of [[Egyptology]], which remains in print to this day. While at the editorial helm, Lepsius commissioned typographer [[Ferdinand Theinhardt]] (on behalf of the Königlich-Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin) to cut the first hieroglyphic typeface, the so-called "Theinhardt font," which remains in use today.
  
 
==Publications==
 
==Publications==
Line 51: Line 51:
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
  
* [http://www.guardians.net/egypt/ Ancient Egypt] – On ancient Egypt
+
* [http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/lepsius.htm Karl (Carl) Richard Lepsius: A Founder of Modern Egyptology] – Biography by Jimmy Dunn. Retrieved April 25, 2007.
* [http://www.egyptology.com/ Egyptology] – Online resources on Egyptology
+
* [http://aaew.bbaw.de/wbhome/LepsiusArchiv/index.html Lepsius Archiv] - Archival material from Lepsius' 1842-1845 expedition to Egypt and Nubia. Retrieved April 25, 2007.
* [http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/lepsius.htm Karl (Carl) Richard Lepsius: A Founder of Modern Egyptology] – Biography by Jimmy Dunn
+
* [http://edoc3.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/books/2003/lepsius/start.html Lepsius Project: ''Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien''] - Lepsius' 12 volume masterwork on the inscriptions of ancient Egypt and Nubia. Retrieved April 25, 2007.
* [http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/klmno/lepsius_karl.html Karl Richard Lepsius] – Biography on Minnesota State University website
 
* [http://aaew.bbaw.de/wbhome/LepsiusArchiv/index.html Lepsius Archiv] - Archival material from Lepsius' 1842-1845 expedition to [[Egypt]] and [[Nubia]]
 
* [http://edoc3.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/books/2003/lepsius/start.html Lepsius Project: ''Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien''] - Lepsius' 12 volume masterwork on the inscriptions of [[ancient Egypt]] and [[Nubia]]
 
  
 
{{Credit1|Karl_Richard_Lepsius|82339504|}}
 
{{Credit1|Karl_Richard_Lepsius|82339504|}}

Revision as of 03:04, 25 April 2007

Karl Richard Lepsius 1810 – 1884

Karl Richard Lepsius (December 23, 1810 – July 10, 1884) was a German archaeologist and linguist, one of the founders of the modern scientific discipline of Egyptology.

Biography

Early life

Karl R. Lepsius was born on December 23, 1818 in Naumburg, Saxony (now in Germany), the third son of Karl Peter Lepsius and Friedericke Glaser. He studied Greek and Roman archeology at the universities of Leipzig (1829-1830), Göttingen (1830-1832), and Berlin (1832-1833). After receiving his doctorate following his dissertation De tabulis Eugubinis in 1833, he traveled to Paris where attended lectures by the French classicist Jean Letronne, an early disciple of Jean-François Champollion and his work on the decipherment of the Egyptian language. Lepsius also visited Egyptian collections all over Europe and studied lithography and engraving.

Explorations in Egypt

After the death of Champollion, Lepsius made a systematic study of his Grammaire égyptienne, which had been published posthumously in 1836, but was yet to be widely accepted. In 1836, Lepsius traveled to Tuscany to meet with Ippolito Rosellini, who had lead a joint expedition to Egypt with Champollion in 1828-1829. In a series of letters to Rosellini, Lepsius expanded on Champollion's explanation of the use of alphabetic signs in hieroglyphic writing, emphasizing (unlike Champollion) that vowels were not written.

In 1842 Lepsius was commissioned (at the recommendation of Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Josias Bunsen) by King Frederich Wilhelm IV of Prussia to lead an expedition to Egypt and the Sudan to explore and record the remains of the ancient Egyptian civilization. The Prussian expedition was modeled after the earlier Napoléonic mission, and consisted of surveyors, draftsmen, and other specialists. The mission reached Giza in November 1842 and spent six months making some of the first scientific studies of the pyramids of Giza, Abusir, Saqqara, and Dahshur. They discovered over sixty-seven pyramids and more than 130 tombs of noblemen in the area. While at the Great Pyramid of Giza, Lepsius inscribed a graffito written in Egyptian hieroglyphs that honors Friedrich Wilhelm IV above the pyramid's original entrance; it is still visible ([1]).

Working south, Lepsius stopping for extended periods at important Middle Egyptian sites, such as Beni Hasan and Deir el-Bersha, Lepsius reached as far south as Khartoum, and then traveling up the Nile to the region of Sennar. After exploring various sites in Upper and Lower Nubia, the expedition worked back north, reaching Thebes on November 2, 1844, where they spent four months studying the western bank of the Nile (such as the Ramesseum, Medinet Habu, the Valley of the Kings, etc.) and another three on the east bank at the temples of Karnak and Luxor, attempting to record as much as possible. Afterwards, they stopped at Coptos, in the Sinai Peninsula, and sites in the Nile Delta, such as Tanis, before returning to Europe in 1846.

The chief result of this expedition was the publication of the Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien (Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia), a massive twelve volume compilation of nearly 900 plates of ancient Egyptian inscriptions, as well as accompanying commentary and descriptions. These plans, maps, and drawings of temple and tomb walls remained the chief source of information for Western scholars well into the 20th century, and are useful even today as they are often the sole record of monuments that have since been destroyed or reburied.

Later life

Upon his return to Europe in 1845, he married Elisabeth Klein in 1846 and was appointed as a professor of Egyptology at Berlin University in the same year, and the co-director of the Ägyptisches Museum in 1855. After the death of Giuseppe Passalacqua. In 1865, he became the director of the museum. In 1866 Lepsius returned to Egypt, where he discovered the Canopus Decree in Tanis, Egypt, an inscription closely related to the Rosetta Stone, which was likewise written in Egyptian, Demotic, and Greek.

Lepsius was president of the German Archaeological Institute in Rome from 1867 to 1880, and from 1873 until his death in 1884, the head of the Royal Library in Berlin.

Lepsius died on July 10, 1884 in Berlin, Germany.

Legacy

Lepsius published widely on the culture of Ancient Egypt, and is considered one of the founders of modern scientific discipline of Egyptology. Much of his work is fundamental to the field. Lepsius even coined the phrase Totenbuch ("Book of the Dead"). He was also a leader in the field of African linguistics, though his ideas are now mainly considered to be outdated. Based on his work in the ancient Egyptian language, and his field work in the Sudan, Lepsius developed a Standard Alphabet for transliterating African languages, which was published in 1855 and revised in 1863.

Lepsius was the editor of the Zeitschrift für ägyptisches Sprache und Altertumskunde, a fundamental scientific journal for the new field of Egyptology, which remains in print to this day. While at the editorial helm, Lepsius commissioned typographer Ferdinand Theinhardt (on behalf of the Königlich-Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin) to cut the first hieroglyphic typeface, the so-called "Theinhardt font," which remains in use today.

Publications

  • Lepsius, Karl R. 1842. Das Todtenbuch der Ägypten nach dem hieroglyphischen Papyrus in Turin mit einem Vorworte zum ersten Male Herausgegeben. Leipzig: G. Wigand.
  • Lepsius, Karl R. 1849. Denkmaeler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien nach den Zeichnungen der von Seiner Majestät dem Koenige von Preussen, Friedrich Wilhelm IV., nach diesen Ländern gesendeten, und in den Jahren 1842–1845 ausgeführten wissenschaftlichen Expedition auf Befehl Seiner Majestät. 13 vols. Berlin: Nicolaische Buchhandlung.
  • Lepsius, Karl R. 1880. Nubische Grammatik mit einer Einleitung über die Völker und Sprachen Afrika's. Berlin: Verlag von Wilhelm Hertz
  • Lepsius, Karl R. 2001 (original published in 1856). Uber die Gotter der vier Elemente bei den Egyptern. Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 0543991962
  • Lepsius, Karl R. 2003 (original published in 1852). Briefe aus Aegypten, Aethiopien und der Halbinsel des Sinai: Geschrieben in den Jahren 1842-1845 während der auf Befehl Sr. Majestät des Königs Friedrich Wilhelm IV. von Preußen ausgeführten wissenschaftlichen Expedition. Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 0543968790
  • Lepsius, Karl R. 2003 (original published in 1855). Standard Alphabet for Reducing Unwritten Languages and Foreign Graphic Systems to a Uniform Orthography in European Letters. Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 1421220695

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Freier, E. & Reinicke, W.-F. 1988. Karl Richard Lepsius (1810-1884). Akademie Verlag. ISBN 3050005742
  • Peck, William H. 2000. Lepsius, Karl Richard. In Donald B. Redford (Ed.) The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (Vol. 2). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195102347

External links

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.