John Wintour Baldwin Barns

John Wintour Baldwin Barns (born May 12, 1912 in Bristol , † February 23, 1974 ) was an English Egyptologist .

Life

After receiving a scholarship, he was taught at Fairfield School , an independent school in Bristol. Although he already since the discovery of Tutankhamun's grave ( KV62 interested) in 1922 at a young age of Egyptology, he encouraged his father, Classical Studies ( Classics ) study. He taught himself ancient Greek because it was not a subject in his school.

At the age of 17, he enrolled at Bristol University to study Classical Studies. He graduated in 1932 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA). He then enrolled at Corpus Christi College in Oxford to study Literae Humaniores . He was selected for a classic scholarship in 1933. He achieved awards in mods (i.e. Latin and ancient Greek) in April 1935 . He then turned to Battiscombe Gunn , Professor of Egyptology at Oxford, and asked if he could study Egyptology in the second half of his degree. He was turned down by Gunn who thought it was too early in his academic studies to address the subject. He continued his classics studies and studied greats , that is, Roman and Greek history and philosophy. He graduated with a further BA; According to tradition, his BA was promoted to Master of Arts (MA Oxon) in 1942.

After completing his second bachelor's degree, Barns began studying Greek papyrology with CH Roberts to prepare for a PhD. His studies were interrupted by the Second World War. His doctoral thesis, which he submitted in 1946, was entitled The character and use of anthologies among the Greek literary papyri: along with an edition of some unpublished papyri . In 1947 he completed his PhD in Philosophy ( DPhil ).

During the Second World War he worked in the military intelligence service. Between 1940 and 1945 he served at Bletchley Park . He worked in Hut 4 (analysis of the naval intelligence services derived from cracked Enigma and Hagelin messages), Hut 5 (military intelligence services with a focus on Italian, Spanish and Portuguese ciphers) and Block A (naval intelligence services). He achieved the rank of Temporary Senior Assistant Officer .

In 1945, after the end of World War II, Barns returned to the University of Oxford after being appointed Lady Wallis Budge Research Fellow in Egyptology at University College Oxford. He worked with and was supervised by Battiscombe Gunn (the then professor of Egyptology) for the next five years until Gunn died in 1950. He continued to hold the Lady Wallis Budge Fellowship until 1953. During this period of his career he worked with a variety of original texts covering most levels of the Egyptian language , from hieroglyphic steles from the Second Intermediate Period to Coptic papyri from the Ptolemaic period.

In 1953 he was named a Senior Lecturer in Papyrology. This marked the departure from Egyptology to teach ancient Greek papyrology at the Literae Humaniores Faculty. He published a number of previously untranslated papyri over the next few years, including some from excavations at Oxyrynchus .

On October 1, 1965, Barns was appointed Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford as the successor to Jaroslav Černý . He held the office until his sudden death in 1974.

In the 1950s, Barns became more and more interested in theology. This prompted him to seek ordination , and he trained to be a priest at St. Stephen's House, Oxford, an Anglo-Catholic theological college. It was 1955 in the Church of England to the deacon and in 1956 priest ordained. It is not known whether he held any religious office, but he preached sermons. A series was published after his death in a book entitled John Wintour Baldwin Barns: Priest and Scholar (1912–1974) .

Fonts (selection)

• The Ashmolean ostracon of Sinuhe . Oxford 1952, OCLC 6259838 .
• Five Ramesseum papyri . Oxford 1956, OCLC 879102411 .
• The placing of papyrus fragments . Oslo 1961, OCLC 879141442 .
• Egyptians and Greeks. Inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on November 25, 1966 . Brussels 1978, OCLC 310695327 .

Web links

• bibliography