Zahi Hawass

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Zahi Hawass on the Giza plateau near the great pyramids (2009)
Zahi Hawass at the opening ceremony of the International Congress of Egyptologists in Cairo on November 3, 2019

Zahi A. Hawass ( Arabic زاهى حواس Zāhī Ḥawāss ) (born May 28, 1947 in Damiette ) is an Egyptian Egyptologist . He was General Secretary of the Egyptian Antiquities Administration ( Supreme Council of Antiquities , SCA) and is considered one of the most influential, but also most controversial Egyptologists of our time. On January 31, 2011, he wasappointed Minister of Antiquities by Husni Mubarak ; on March 3, he was no longer considered in a government reshuffle, but reappointed on March 30, 2011 and released again on July 17 of the same year. As his successor, Mustafa Amin held the office of General Secretary at the Supreme Council of Antiquities in 2011.

life and work

Education

Zahi Hawass' original career goal was a lawyer . However, he decided differently and studied Greek and Roman archeology in Alexandria , where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1967 . He received his diploma in Egyptology from Cairo University in 1980 . With the help of a Fulbright scholarship , he studied further Egyptology and Syrian-Palestinian archeology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia ( USA ) . He received his doctorate here in 1987 .

Activity as archaeologist and general secretary of the Egyptian antiquities administration

From 1988 he taught Egyptian archeology, history and culture, mostly at the American University in Cairo and at the University of California in Los Angeles . In 1998 he was appointed Undersecretary of State for Monuments in Giza . In 2002 he became Secretary General of the Egyptian Antiquities Administration. In addition to his numerous projects in practical archeology, Zahi Hawass also writes scripts for documentary films dealing with Egyptology and Egyptian studies. He often appears as a speaker or commentator in the films.

In addition to his work as Secretary General of the Egyptian Antiquities Administration, Hawass is currently the excavation director for the following projects:

He is also director of the Sphinx Restoration , manager of the Giza Plateau and excavation sites in Memphis . In recent years, Hawass has also dealt intensively with the pharaoh Tutankhamun . To determine the cause of his death, he had his mummy examined by computer tomography on January 6, 2005 and then published the results.

Has worked since the 2011 revolution in Egypt

On January 31, 2011 (according to Hawass' own information on January 30), Hawass was appointed Egyptian Minister for Antiquities, after the entire government had previously been sacked by Egyptian President Husni Mubarak .

Apparently, Hawass was no longer included in the March 3, 2011 government reshuffle. He therefore announced his resignation on March 6th. The reasons he gave was that after the revolution in Egypt in 2011, the army was no longer able to protect the antiquities and he could no longer guarantee their safety, as well as defamation of his person by two employees of the Egyptian antiquities administration and a professor of Cairo University . In the run-up, however, there were also protests in which employees of the antiquities administration and young Egyptian Egyptologists demanded, in addition to better salaries, the resignation of Hawass. He was accused of being too close to the old regime under Mubarak and of having significantly supported its system. Hawass rejected the allegations against him: the demonstrators had only asked for better salaries.

On March 30, 2011, he was reappointed Minister for Antiquities, one day after UNESCO complained on March 29, 2011 about better guarding of Egyptian antiquities.

In April 2011 he was sentenced to one year imprisonment and payment of 10,000 Egyptian pounds for disregarding an older court ruling. However, he announced an appeal, which is why he was left in office due to the lack of legal force of the judgment. The cause of the legal dispute was a lease with the operator of the bookstore in the Egyptian Museum. Zahi Hawass canceled the contract and put it out to tender, whereupon the operator sued and got the right in court, but only after a new tenant had already been awarded the contract. According to Zahi Hawass, the government issued a decree on April 18, 2011 that stopped the trial. It stipulated that he did not have to serve a prison term and that he would continue to serve as Minister of Antiquities.

Hawass permanently lost his ministerial post on July 17, 2011. In future he only wanted to be active in science, it was said.

Feedback from Hawass' work

Hawass owes Egyptology overall a higher level of attention from the international media and the world public. For the future he was planning 14 new museums, including the Great Egyptian Museum ( The Grand Egyptian Museum - GEM) in Giza, which is expected to cost half a billion US $ alone. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo was renovated thanks to his initiative. Hawass also introduced the foreign archaeologists to pay the local excavation inspectors and the requirement to publish their scientific reports in Arabic .

In Europe and the USA, Hawass was mainly noticed by its demand for the return of ancient Egyptian antiquities. He demanded that pieces such as the rosette stone or the bust of Nefertiti should be handed over to Egypt. However, these demands were never official.

criticism

Zahi Hawass' work is assessed ambivalently by specialist colleagues. Although his professional quality is highly valued and his commitment to popularizing Egyptology is appreciated, it is also criticized that Hawass' public relations work has become a sensationalism that deserves attention. The live broadcast of the research into the ventilation duct in the Cheops pyramid on September 17, 2002 and the simultaneous opening of a grave were particularly criticized . Here not only the transference was criticized, but also the scientific nature of the work. Among other things, Dietrich Wildung , the former director of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, questioned whether it really was a live broadcast during the opening of the sarcophagus, and criticized that Hawass had presented the results too positively.

In addition, Hawass made anti-Semitic statements on Egyptian television on February 11, 2009 , according to which the Jews would systematically rule the world and control the economy and the media. In his opinion, they owed this strength to their own unity, while the Arab world was divided.

Honors

Fonts (selection)

Translations into German

  • The valley of the golden mummies. The newest and greatest discovery of our day. Scherz, Bern / Munich / Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-502-15300-0 .
  • Images of immortality. The books of the dead from the royal tombs in Thebes. von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-3650-0 .
  • World of gods and kingdom of pharaohs. White-Star-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-939128-40-6 .
  • Tutankhamun. The legendary tomb of the Pharaoh. with photographs by Sandro Vannini, Frederking & Thaler, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-89405-711-4 .
  • The forbidden graves in Thebes. with photographs by Sandro Vannini, von Zabern, Mainz 2009, ISBN 978-3-8053-4077-9 .
  • The pyramids. (Illustrated book) White-Star-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-86726-184-5 .
  • with Mark Lehner : The pyramids of Gizeh. wbg Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt 2019, ISBN 978-3-8053-8106-2 .

English

  • as editor: Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The Archeology Museum. The Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zamalek 2002, ISBN 977-305-326-1 .
  • as editor: The Treasures of the Pyramids. White Star Editions, Vercelli 2003, ISBN 88-8095-233-1 .
  • as editor: The Treasures of the Pyramids. German first edition, Weltbild, Augsburg 2004, ISBN 3-8289-0809-8 .
  • The Secrets of the Sphinx. Restoration past and present. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo / New York 1998, ISBN 977-424-492-3 .
  • Silent Images. Women in Pharaonic Egypt. Harry N. Abrams, New York 2000, ISBN 0-8109-4478-2 .
  • Valley of the Golden Mummies. The Greatest Egyptian Discovery Since Tutankhamun. New edition. Virgin Books, London 2000, ISBN 1-85227-849-8 .
  • The Mysteries of Abu Simbel . Ramesses II and the Temples of the Rising Sun. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo / New York 2001, ISBN 977-424-623-3 .
  • with David Fromkin, Milton Viorst: Cradle & Crucible. History and Faith in the Middle East. National Geographic Society, Washington DC 2002, ISBN 0-7922-6597-1 .
  • Secret from the Sand: My Search for Egypt's Past. Harry N. Abrams, New York 2003, ISBN 0-8109-4542-8 .
  • Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century. Vol. 1-3. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo / New York 2003, ISBN 977-424-674-8 , ISBN 977-424-714-0 , ISBN 977-424-715-9 .
  • The Golden Age of Tutankhamun. Divine Might and Splendor in the New Kingdom. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo / New York 2004, ISBN 977-424-836-8 .
  • Curse of the Pharaohs. My Adventures with Mummies. National Geographic Society, Washington DC 2004, ISBN 0-7922-6665-X .
  • Hidden Treasures of Ancient Egypt. Unearthing the Masterpieces of the Egyptian History. National Geographic Society, Washington DC 2004, ISBN 0-7922-6319-7 .
  • Discovering Tutankhamun. From Howard Carter to DNA. The American University Press, Cairo 2013, ISBN 978-977-416-637-2 .

Web links

Commons : Zahi Hawass  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Revolution in Egypt: Zahi Hawass is no longer Egypt's chief archaeologist. In: Welt Online. March 7, 2011, accessed April 19, 2011 .
  2. ↑ a b Zahi Hawass is back in the ministerial chair. In: The Standard . March 30, 2011, accessed April 19, 2011 .
  3. ↑ a b Egypt's chief archaeologist bowled out of office. Spiegel Online , www.spiegel.de, July 18, 2011. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  4. ↑ Mustafa Amin, Supreme Council of Antiquities ( Memento of November 17, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Complete, official press release of the CT examination (English).
  6. ^ Zahi Hawass: Press Release. (PDF; 148 kB) (No longer available online.) Supreme Council of Antiquities, January 30, 2011, archived from the original on July 9, 2011 ; Retrieved April 19, 2011 (English).
  7. ^ A b Why Dr Hawass Resigned. ( Memento from December 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) at: drhawass.com
  8. ↑ Zahi Hawass takes his hat. Spiegel Online, March 4, 2011.
  9. ^ Antiquities ministry employees protest against pay. on: Ahram online. February 10, 2011.
  10. ↑ Mubarak also received interest from Tutankhamun. on: Welt Online. February 8, 2011.
  11. ↑ Hawass, Egypt's chief of antiquities: “I would love to quit this job”. on: Spiegel Online. February 21, 2011.
  12. ↑ The court sentenced Zahi Hawass to one year in prison. on: Spiegel Online. April 17, 2011.
  13. ↑ Convicted Hawass is allowed to remain in office for the time being. on: Spiegel Online. April 18, 2011.
  14. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Curse of the Pharaohs: Egypt's chief archaeologist Hawass sentenced to forced labor. ) On: sueddeutsche.de , April 19, 2011.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.sueddeutsche.de
  15. ^ Decision in the Court Case Against Me. ( Memento of January 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) April 18, 2011.
  16. ↑ z. B. Martin Gehlen: Nefertiti. Dispute about the most beautiful woman in the world . In: Zeit Online. December 17th, 2009 - again in December 2019: Archaeologist launches private bid to retrieve priceless Egyptian treasures from European museums. The Art Newspaper December 6, 2019.
  17. ^ "The Night of the Pyramids" ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), ZDF , February 6, 2006.
  18. ^ "Robot finds a small space in the Great Pyramid" ( Memento from November 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Netzeitung , September 17, 2002.
  19. ↑ "Live spectacle in the Pharaohs grave" ( Memento from February 5, 2005 in the Internet Archive ), ZDF, February 6, 2006.
  20. ↑ Renowned Egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass, On Egyptian TV: 'The Jews Went to America and Took Control of its Economy ... They Have a Plan ... They Control the Entire World' , Memri , March 11, 2010.
  21. ↑ Dr. Zahi Hawass Receives an Emmy Award! guardians.net, accessed January 19, 2015 .
  22. ↑ Review of the SZ .
personal data
SURNAME Hawass, Zahi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hawass, Zahi A.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Egyptian archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Damiette , Egypt