Breasted, James Henry

Breasted, James Henry (brĕs`tĭd), 1865–1935, American Egyptologist, b. Rockford, Ill., grad. North Central College, 1888, M.A. Yale, 1891, Ph.D. Univ. of Berlin, 1894. He began teaching at the Univ. of Chicago in 1894 and was (1905–33) professor of Egyptology and Oriental history there. Breasted was also director of the Haskell Oriental Museum (1895–1901) and after 1919 founding director of the Oriental Institute of the Univ. of Chicago; under his leadership, this became one of the foremost research institutions on the ancient Middle East. He made archaeological discoveries of great importance in Egypt and directed researches in Mesopotamia. Besides many reports and monographs, he wrote some general works, including The Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (1912) and The Dawn of Conscience (1933). Two of his textbooks were History of Egypt from the Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest (rev. ed. 1928) and Ancient Times (rev. ed. 1944). Breasted translated and edited Egyptian historical sources in Ancient Records of Egypt (5 vol., 1906–27). His son, Charles Breasted, wrote a memoir of him, Pioneer to the Past (1943).

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Breasted, James Henry (1865–1935) Egyptologist; born in Rockford, Ill. The first teacher of Egyptology in America, he was assistant in Egyptology (1895), assistant director of the Haskell Oriental Museum (1895), instructor in Egyptology (1896), and professor of Egyptology and Oriental history, all at the University of Chicago (1905–35), where he founded the Oriental Institute (1919). He is best known for his monumental Ancient Records of Egypt (1906–07), previously unpublished inscriptions with translations, and his translation and editing of the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus (1930), often referred to as the earliest known scientific document.