Miriam Lichtheim (3 May 1914,

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

– 27 March 2004,

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

) was a Turkish-born American-Israeli Egyptologist, known for her translations of ancient Egyptian texts.

Biography

Miriam was born in Istanbul on May 3, 1914, to Richard Lichtheim – a German-born Jewish politician, publicist, and notable Zionist – and his wife Irene (''née'' Hafter), a Sephardic Jew whose first language was Greek. Her older brother, born 1912, was the British Marxist journalist George Lichtheim. From 1913 to 1917 Richard Lichtheim was the successor to Victor Jacobson, representative of the Zionist World Organization in Istanbul. Due to suspicions of espionage, the Lichtheim family returned to Germany in 1919 following the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. In 1934, the family emigrated to Palestine, where Miriam studied under

Hans Jakob Polotsky Hans Jakob Polotsky ( he, הנס יעקב פולוצקי; also Hans Jacob Polotsky, Hans Jakob Polotzky; 13 September 1905 – 10 August 1991) was an Israeli orientalist, linguist, and professor of Semitic languages and Egyptology at the Hebrew U ...

in the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public university, public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein ...

. In a paper of recollections about her teacher she recalls that, at the beginning of the year, in Polotsky's Egyptian class there were four students; at the end, only she remained. During Miriam's time at the Hebrew University, her father Richard became the representative of the World Zionist Organisation at the League of Nations, and relocated to Geneva with Irene."Als die Behörden die Grenze schlossen, wussten sie, was das für die abgewiesenen Juden hiess": Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 11. August 2017 They would return in 1946 following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and the founding of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. After completing her studies, Miriam travelled to the United States in 1941 where she studied and received a Ph.D. in

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native relig ...

from the University of Chicago. She worked as an academic librarian first at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

University, and then at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...

, where she was Near East Bibliographer and Lecturer until her retirement in 1974. In 1982 she returned to

, where she taught at her old school the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

. She died in 2004.

Works

In 1973, she published the first volume of the ''Ancient Egyptian Literature'' (abbr. ''AEL''), annotated translations of

Old Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...

and Middle Kingdom texts. In this work, she describes the genesis and evolution of different literary genres in Egypt, based on

ostraca An ostracon ( Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer to sherds or even small pieces of ...

, inscriptions engraved in stone, and texts of

papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

. In 1976, the second volume of ''AEL'' containing

New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

texts appeared, followed in 1980 by the third dealing with the first millennium BCE literature. These widely used anthologies became classics in the field of Egyptology, portraying the evolution of literature in ancient Egypt.

Publications (selection)

* with Elizabeth Stefanski, 1952: ''Coptic Ostraca from Medinet Habu''. Oriental Institute Publications 71. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. * 1963: "Ancient Egypt: A survey of current historiography", ''The American Historical Review'' 69 (1), 30–46. DOI: 10.2307/1904412. * 1973–1980 (and reprints): ''Ancient Egyptian literature. A book of readings'', 3 volumes, The University of California Press. * 1983: ''Late Egyptian wisdom literature in the international context: a study of Demotic instructions''. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 52. Freiburg (Schweiz); Göttingen: Universitätsverlag; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. * 1988: ''Ancient Egyptian autobiographies chiefly of the Middle Kingdom: A study and an anthology''. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 84. Freiburg (Schweiz); Göttingen: Universitätsverlag; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. * 1992: ''Maat in Egyptian Autobiographies and Related Studies''. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 120. Freiburg (Schweiz); Göttingen: Universitätsverlag; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. * 1997: ''Moral Values in Ancient Egypt''. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 155. Freiburg (Schweiz); Göttingen: Universitätsverlag; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. * 1999: ''Telling it Briefly: A Memoir of My Life''. Freiburg (Schweiz): Universitätsverlag.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lichtheim, Miriam Israeli Egyptologists University of Chicago alumni Turkish Sephardi Jews 1914 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American women writers Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty University of California, Los Angeles faculty American women academics German expatriates in the Ottoman Empire German emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine emigrants to the United States