Anthony Charles Harris
Anthony Charles Harris (* 1790 in Great Britain , † November 23, 1869 in Alexandria , Egypt) was a British businessman and art collector .
Life
As director of the trading company Harris & Co., which he ran with his brother, he also supplied the British Army. He lived in Alexandria for almost thirty years and was probably also the first information point for many travelers of the time who arrived in the port city by ship. It is documented that Joseph Bonomi the Younger exchanged letters with Anthony Harris between 1828 and 1859 as well as with Selima Harris.
Because he was interested in the monuments of Egypt, he traveled the country and was also able to read the hieroglyphs. In his Hieroglyphical standards representing places in Egypt suppodes to nomes and toparchies , published in 1851 , Harris published for the first time individual figures as personifications of the various regions of Egypt and their subdivisions. It is thanks to Harris to have been the first to recognize the importance of these images, which are so important for geographic research. His treatise received praise from Johannes Dümichen and Heinrich Brugsch .
Harris papyri
Harris built up a collection of Egyptian antiques and papyri over the years. His name is forever associated with the " Harris I Papyrus ". August Eisenlohr had already seen the papyri with Harris on his trip to Egypt in 1869/70. Among them was a papyrus in hieratic script from the reign of Ramses III. , the longest surviving papyrus, in which Eisenlohr was particularly interested. When Harris died in November 1869, his adopted daughter and heiress Selima returned to England and Eisenlohr cataloged his collection for later sale. He was already familiar with the papyrus entitled "Le papyrus magique Harris", which was translated by Francois Chabas in 1860. To distinguish it, he called the largest and longest of the hieratic scrolls "The Great Harris Papyrus".
Another papyrus Harris of 1.45 m length and max. 19.5 cm high (also Papyrus Harris 500 ) is of particular interest. The beginning and the end are missing here. It is described on the front and back. It contains a collection of literary texts. On the front side:
- 1st cycle (1.1.-4.1) a series of chants
- 2nd cycle (4.1-6.2) followed by the "Harper's Song" from the House of Intef (6.2.-7.3)
- 3rd cycle (7.3-8.3.)
- 4th cycle (8.3-8.12)
On the back there are two late Egyptian stories “The Capture of Joppa” (1.1-3.14) and “The Doomed Prince” (41.-8.14).
The papyrus is kept under glass in a frame and is not loaned to other museums.
While the better preserved part " The magical papyrus Harris " from the reign of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses III. (1198–1166 BC) from the British Museum in London, the highly fragmentary end of the papyrus scroll - which was thought to be lost - found its way to Heidelberg, where it was recently rediscovered. Burn marks suggest that it was damaged by the gun cotton explosion. The papyrus is now in the Egyptian collection of Heidelberg University .
Come to me ... you image of millions of millions! ... you who have 77 eyes and 77 ears! ... it says in the magical Harris papyrus from the reign of Ramses III. (1198-1166 BC). In ritual terms over a small statuette or a Udjat or Horus eye , the person called here in ancient Egypt should inhabit the amulet and protect the caller with his herd of cattle from Nile crocodiles.
The Magical Papyrus in London consists of two fragments, which are framed 38.2 × 25.6 cm in size. They are described with hieratic text on the front and back. It is a collection of hymns and incantations (magic spells?), Which particularly relate to the defense against crocodiles (front) and other dangerous animals (back). François Chabas translated this papyrus in 1860 under the title “Le papyrus magique Harris”.
The papyri - around 20 rolls in total - came from a grave in Medinet Habu and, according to Francois Chabas, were offered to Anthony Harris in Luxor in the introduction to his book in 1855. However, he did not have enough money with him to buy all the papyri.
In the notebooks of AC Harris left by Selma Harris to August Eisenlohr, he found a note dated January 1858 about the site, which may have been written after a closer examination of the location:
“This is the description Mr. Harris made of the site: The Papyrus Square. Behind the temple of Medinet-Abu (the same is known to be beyond the old Thebes on the left bank of the Nile) in the gorge, which leads to Der El Medinet, 225 paces walking over the rubble hills from the northeast corner of the wall of Der el Medinet to the foot of the south hill of the ravine - about twenty feet below the ground is a raw grotto in the rock, which when it was first opened was filled with mummies, all of which had been torn to pieces in ancient times. This hole was covered with shards, which were connected by clay to the earth that lay above. We found nothing in this grotto but mummy robes and bones. - This place was probably in connection with a better grave above the grotto, which has now been destroyed. We only found a stamped brick there. "
Through the mediation of August Eisenlohr, Selima Harris sold the Egyptian collection with the papyri to the British Museum in 1872.
Anthony Charles Harris was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Alexandria.
Works
literature
- August Eisenlohr: The great papyrus Harris. An important contribution to Egyptian history, containing a 3600 year old testimony for the Mosaic religious foundation. Lecture given in the philosophical-historical association in Heidelberg. Hinrich'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1872.
- Herbert D. Schaedel: Lists of the great papyrus Harris. Your economic and political interpretation. A: Introduction. B: The importance and evaluation of the lists. C: Purpose of the papyrus and historical implications. 1936; New edition: Augustin; Glückstadt 1986. ISBN 978-3-87030-035-7 .
- Martin Bommas: The Heidelberg Fragments of the Magical Harris Papyrus. Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 1998, ISBN 978-3-8253-0585-7 .
- Alessandro Capone: Anthony Charles Harris (1790-1869) . In: Mario Capasso (Ed.): Hermae. Scholars and Scholarship in Papyrology II . Pisa / Rome 2010, pp. 17–19 (with picture)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Archives Hub MS.Add. 9389/2 / H
- ↑ Adopted daughter
- ^ The Great Harris Papyrus in the British Museum
- ^ Harris 500 in the British Museum BM / Big number: 10060
- ^ Exhibition "77 Eyes" about the ritual gaze in the Ethnological Museum in Heidelberg ( Memento of the original from November 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ The Harris Magical Papyrus in the British Museum
- ^ British Museum - 366 objects. Bought from Miss Selima Harris
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Harris, Anthony Charles |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British businessman and art collector |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1790 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kingdom of Great Britain |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 23, 1869 |
| Place of death | Alexandria , Egypt |