Rosalind Moss

Rosalind Louisa Beaufort Moss FSA (born September 21, 1890 in Shrewsbury , Shropshire , England , † April 22, 1990 in Ewell , Surrey , England) was a British Egyptologist and bibliographer . Together with Bertha Porter , she founded the Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings (short title: Porter & Moss or PM ), one of the most important reference works in Egyptology.

Life

Rosalind Moss was the daughter of Reverend Henry Whitehead Moss , director of the Shrewsbury School , and his wife Mary (née Beaufort). She attended Heathfield School at Ascot . Moss began studying anthropology in 1909 at the Society of Home Students at Oxford , now St Anne's College . In the spring of 1914 she took part as a student of Robert Ranulph Marett in an excavation of the prehistoric site La Cotte de St. Brelade in Jersey . In 1917 she received her diploma and in 1922 the title of Bachelor of Science for her work The Life after Death in Oceania and the Malay Archipelago .

In 1917 she began studying Egyptology, initially as an unofficial student of Francis Llewellyn Griffith . According to her own statements, this course of study began under strange circumstances: she was the only student to attend a series of lectures that Griffith offered regularly, but usually nobody attended. Griffith, who was evidently all right, then hired Moss to work as assistant to Bertha Porter on the Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings - a work that all known with hieroglyphic inscriptions, which had been in progress for 20 years Should contain monuments and objects of ancient Egypt and complete bibliographies on them. Moss did not become an official full-time employee until 1924.

In preparation for the publication of the first volume of the bibliography, she traveled to Egypt in the spring of 1924 to study the Theban necropolis on site. There she received support from Norman and Nina de Garis Davies . She also made numerous trips to Egypt and to various museums in Europe and North America for the following volumes. From 1938 her colleague Ethel Burney was a constant companion. Moss hired Helen Murray and Jaromír Málek as additional employees . She only retired in 1972 at the age of 80. The work on the bibliography was continued by Málek. Moss spent her final years in a retirement home in Ewell, Surrey, where she died in 1990 at the age of 99.

Honors

Rosalind Moss was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1949. In 1961 she received from the University of Oxford , the honorary doctorate . In 1967 she became a Fellow of St Anne's College.

Fonts

• The Life after Death in Oceania and the Malay Archipelago. (1925)
• with Bertha Porter: Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings.
  • Volume I. The Theban Necropolis. (1927)
  • Volume II. Theban Temples. (1929)
  • Volume III. Memphis (Abu Rawash to Dahshur). (1931)
  • Volume IV. Lower and Middle Egypt. (1934)
  • Volume V. Upper Egypt: Sites. (1939)
  • Volume VI. Upper Egypt: Chief Temples (excluding Thebes). (1939)
  • Volume VII. Nubia, the Deserts, and Outside Egypt. (1952)
• Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings. 2nd Edition
  • Volume I. The Theban Necropolis. Part 1. Private Tombs. (1960)
  • Volume I. The Theban Necropolis. Part 2. Royal Tombs and Smaller Cemeteries. (1964)
  • Volume II. Theban Temples. (1972)
  • Volume III. Memphis. Part 1. Abu Rawash to Abusir. (1974)
  • Volume III. Memphis. Part 2. Saqqara to Dahshur. (1981)

literature

• Harry James: An Open Letter to Dr. Rosalind Moss. In: Journal of Egyptian Archeology (JEA). Volume 58, 1972, pp. Iii, 5-6.
• TGH James : Rosalind Moss. In: Journal of Egyptian Archeology (JEA). Volume 77, 1991, pp. 150-155.
• TGH James and Jaromir Malek (Eds.): A Dedicated Life. Tributes Offered in Memory of Rosalind Moss. Griffith Institute, Oxford 1990, ISBN 9780900416569 .

Web links

• Barbara S. Lesko: Bertha Porter (1852-1941) and Rosalind Moss (1890-1990) (PDF)
• The Griffith Institute: Topographical Bibliography (Porter & Moss)