James Henry Breasted

James Henry Breasted (August 27, 1865 – December 2, 1935) was an American archaeologist and historian. After completing his PhD at the University of Berlin in 1894, he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago. In 1901 he became director of the Haskell Oriental Museum at the University of Chicago, where he continued to concentrate on Egypt. In 1905 Breasted was promoted to professor, and was the first chair in Egyptology and Oriental History in the United States. In 1919 he became the founder of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. See PIONEERS TO THE PAST: AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGISTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST, 1919–20

"If one were asked to name a scholar who, above all others, stimulated the development of ancient historical studies in the United States during the earlier part of the twentieth century, that honor would have to fall to the colossal figure of James Henry Breasted." — Dictionary of Literary Biography by William J. Murnane

Brief Biography

James Henry Breasted worked briefly as a pharmacist, then studied theology. He grew disillusioned with Christianity when, in learning Hebrew, he retranslated some Bible verses from the original language, and found that in some instances the sacred scriptures were simply mistranslated. He instead pursued an interest in ancient cultures, and became the foremost US archaeologist of his time. He conducted numerous expeditions to the "Fertile Crescent" (and actually coined the term) and founded the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute. He was known by colleagues for his adventurous spirit and a seat-of-his-pants attitude that found him often sailing across the Atlantic on expeditions before funds for his return had been arranged. He and his wife honeymooned by exploring the Nile together.

Impact

As America's first professional Egyptologist, Breasted was more than merely accessible: He was outgoing and enterprising. He not only mastered ancient languages, he brought the past alive in popular books, lectures and even an early film. He touched on palace intrigue in ancient Egypt, and referred to disinterred mummies as his "friends." Perhaps most important, he cultivated the interest of businessman and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Among many other projects, Rockefeller supported and later endowed the Oriental Institute that Breasted founded at the University of Chicago as a center for archeology and research on the "ancient Near East."

"It seems surprising that Breasted became a public figure in his lifetime," says John Larson, archivist of The Oriental Institute. 'To compare him to present-day scholars, I think you could cite [astronomer] Carl Sagan or [Civil War historian] Shelby Foote," with their popular books and television appearances. Breasted's exploits—excavations he organized and oversaw from Luxor to Persepolis—were routinely covered by the press, but his scholarly approach to science was unaffected by publicity.

Author of books:

• A History of Egypt from the Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest (1905)
• Ancient Records of Egypt (1906)
• Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (1912)
• Ancient Times: A History of the Early World (1916)
• Oriental Forerunners of Byzantine Painting (1924)
• The Conquest of Civilization (1926)
• The Dawn of Conscience (1933)

Links

• Findagrave, NNDB, Wikipedia, With Trowel and Pen. by Jay Pridmore. Photographs courtesy of The Oriental Institute Museum