Sami Gabra (April 24, 1882 – May 19, 1979) was an Egyptian

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end ...

and

Coptologist Coptology is the scientific study of the Copts, Coptic people. Origin The European interest in Coptology may have started as early as the 15th century AD. The term was used in 1976 when the First International Congress of Coptology was held in ...

. Gabra was curator of the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (, Egyptian Arabic: ) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian antiquities in the world. It hou ...

in Cairo from 1925 to 1928. He was a professor at

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

and founder of the Society of Coptic Archaeology. He participated in excavations at Deir Tasa, Tura,

Tuna el-Gebel Tuna el-Gebel (, ) was the necropolis of Khmun (Hermopolis Magna). It is the largest known Greco-Roman necropolis in Egypt, dating from the New Kingdom to the Roman Period, and seeing heavy use in the Ptolemaic Period. Tuna el-Gebel is located in ...

Dahshur DahshurAlso transliterated ''Dahshour'' (in English often called ''Dashur''; ' ) is an ancient Egyptian pyramid complex and necropolis and shares the name of the nearby village of Manshiyyat Dahshur () in markaz Badrashin, Giza Governorate, Giza ...

and

Meir Meir () is a Jewish male given name and an occasional surname. It means "one who shines". It is often Germanized as Maier, Mayer, Mayr, Meier, Meyer, Meijer, Italianized as Miagro, or Anglicized as Mayer, Meyer, or Myer. Alfred J. Kolatch, ''T ...

Early life

Gabra was born in 1882 in the town of Abnub. His father was a Coptic landowner. Gabra attended Asyut College, a private

United Presbyterian Church of North America The United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA) was an American Presbyterian denomination that existed for one hundred years. It was formed on May 26, 1858, by the union of the Northern branch of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church ...

missionary school and

Syrian Protestant College The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs lead ...

. He initially desired to work in the legal profession and moved to France to attend the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (, ) is a public research university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Talence. There are al ...

where he earned his doctorate in law. In 1923, he enrolled at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

to study Egyptology under T. Eric Peet and

John Garstang John Garstang (5 May 1876 – 12 September 1956) was a British archaeologist of the Ancient Near East, especially Egypt, Sudan, Anatolia and the southern Levant. He was the younger brother of Professor Walter Garstang, FRS, a marine biol ...

. His thesis was on "Justice under the Old and New Kingdom Egypt". In 1925, he enrolled at the

École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...

in Paris where he was taught by

Alexandre Moret Alexandre Moret (; 19 September 1868, Aix-les-Bains – 2 February 1938, Paris) was a French Egyptologist. Life From 1906 to 1923 Moret was curator of the Musée Guimet. In 1918 Moret succeeded Émile Amélineau as Director of Studies for the Reli ...

, Gustave Lefebvre and

Raymond Weill Raymond Weill (28 January 1874 – 13 July 1950), whose full name was Raymond Charles Isaac Weill, was a French archaeologist specialized in Egyptology. Biography Born on 28 January 1874 in Elbeuf, 28 January 1874 in Elbeuf began his career in ...

Career

Upon his return to Egypt, he worked for

Pierre Lacau Pierre Lacau (25 November 1873 – 26 March 1963) was a French Egyptologist and philologist. He served as Egypt's director of antiquities from 1914 until 1936, and oversaw the 1922 discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the King ...

at the

Department of Antiquities A Department of Antiquities is a government department with responsibility for cultural heritage management, archaeological research and regulating antiquities trading in some countries. Many were established by British and French colonial admini ...

for five years. He became a professor of ancient Egyptian history at

after leaving the department. In 1939, he replaced

Hermann Junker Hermann Junker (29 November 1877 in Bendorf – 9 January 1962 in Vienna) was a German archaeologist best known for his discovery of the Merimde-Benisalam site in the West Nile Delta in Lower Egypt in 1928. Early life Junker was born in 1877 in ...

as the Egyptology department chair at the university. Under the auspices of the Cairo University, he excavated at Tuna el-Gebel from 1931 to 1952. Among his notable finds were the

Hermopolis Aramaic papyri The Hermopolis Aramaic papyri are a group of eight Aramaic papyri thought to be from the late sixth or early fifth century BCE, found in 1945 at Hermopolis. They were first published in 1966 by Edda Bresciani and Cairo University's Murad Kamil. ...

. After his retirement from the university following the

1952 Egyptian revolution The Egyptian revolution of 1952, also known as the 1952 coup d'état () and the 23 July Revolution (), was a period of profound political, economic, and societal change in Egypt. On 23 July 1952, the revolution began with the toppling of King ...

, Gabra became director of the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies (Ma'had al-dirasat al-qibtiyya).

Publications

*''The Councils of Officials in Pharaonic Egypt: Scenes of Royal Awards to Officials'', Cairo, 1929. *''Fresco paintings and painted scenes at East Hermopolis '', Cairo, Printing of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology, 1954. *''Among the last worshipers of Trismegistus: The necropolis of Hermopolis, Touna el Gebel'', Cairo, 1971. *With Dia'Abou-Ghazi, Ramadan el-Sayed, ''From Tasa to Touna'', Cairo, Dar al-Maaref, 1984.

References

{{Reflist Egyptian Copts Egyptian Egyptologists 1882 births 1979 deaths Alumni of the University of Liverpool École pratique des hautes études alumni University of Bordeaux alumni