Gustave Lefebvre
Gustave Désiré Louis Lefebvre (born July 18, 1879 in Bar-le-Duc , † November 1, 1957 in Versailles ) was a French Egyptologist and classical philologist .
life and work
In 1896 Lefebvre graduated from the baccalauréat in Nancy and from 1896 to 1897 attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris . He then went to the Sorbonne , where he received the agrégation de grammaire in 1900 . From 1900 to 1904 he spent as a member of the École française d'Athènes in Athens and toured Lydia and Caria in Asia Minor . In addition to his studies of Hellenistic antiquity, he dealt with the Middle Egyptian and Coptic languages.
In 1902 Lefevbre went to Egypt and carried out excavations in the Fayyum with Pierre Jouguet . In 1903 and 1904 he dug in Tihna el-Gebel in Middle Egypt . In 1905 he was appointed inspector of the antiquities administration in Assiut by Gaston Maspero . During this time he devoted himself to the publication of four newly discovered comedies by Menander and the publication of Greek inscriptions from Egypt. In 1914, Lefèvbre returned to France to do military service during the First World War . After all, he was a curator at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo from 1919 to 1928 . In 1919 he excavated the well-known tomb of Petosiris in Tuna el-Gebel and later published it in three volumes.
In 1928 he returned to France and was appointed Directeur d'études at the École pratique des hautes études . In 1928 and 1929 he completed his habilitation with the works Histoire des grands-prêtres d'Amon de Karnak jusqu'à la XXIème dynastie and Inscriptions concernant les Grands Prêtres d'Amon Romê-Roy et Amenhotep . In 1948 Lefebvre retired for health reasons. The presidency of the Société française d'égyptologie , of which he had been a member since 1944, he also gave up.
Lefebvre's publication of the Tomb of Petosiris is certainly one of the most famous of his works today. In addition to the editions of Greek and hieroglyphic texts, the Grammaire de l'Égyptien classique , a standard grammar of the Middle Egyptian language, first published in 1940 , should be mentioned. Well-known French Egyptologists such as Jacques Vandier , Georges Posener , François Daumas , Jean Leclant , Jean Vercoutter , Serge Sauneron , Jean Yoyotte and Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt were among his students.
Fonts (selection)
- Une chapelle de Ramsès II à Abydos , 1906.
- Fragments d'un manuscrit de Ménandre , 1907 (1911).
- Recueil des inscriptions grecques chrétiennes de l'Egypte , 1908.
- Les graffites grecs du Memnomion d'Abydos , 1919.
- Le tombeau de Pétosiris , 3 vols., 1923-1924.
- Histoire des grands prêtres d'Amon de Karnak , 1929.
- Grammaire de l'égyptien classique , 1940.
- Romans et contes égyptiens de l'époque pharaonique , 1948.
- Essai sur la médecine égyptienne de l'époque pharaonique , 1956.
- Romans et contes égyptiens de l'époque pharaonique , Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient, 1988.
literature
- André-Jean Festugière : Notice sur la vie et les travaux de M. Gustave Lefebvre. In: Comptes-rendus des Séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1959, pp. 95-105 ( full text ).
- Jean Sainte Fare Garnot: Notre maître Gustave Lefebvre (1879–1957). In: Bulletin de l'Institut français d'archéologie Orientale. 58, 1959, pp. 131-148.
- Mahmoud El-Nahas: Un grand Egyptologue: Gustave Lefebvre (1879-1957). In: La revue du Caire. 39, 208, 1957, pp. 473-480.
- Serge Sauneron, Jean Yoyotte: Gustave Lefebvre (1879–1957). In: Chronique d'Égypte. 33, 66, 1958, pp. 229-233.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lefebvre, Gustave |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lefebvre, Gustave Désiré Louis (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French Egyptologist and classical philologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 18, 1879 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bar-le-Duc |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 1, 1957 |
| Place of death | Versailles |