Catharina Blankenberg-van Delden (

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

, 23 March 1906 –

Bergen op Zoom Bergen op Zoom (; called ''Berrege'' in the Brabantian dialect, local dialect) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southwestern Netherlands. It is located in the Province ...

, 1994) was a Dutch

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 ...

Life and work

Catharina van Delden grew up in the Dutch East Indies; prior to the Japanese occupation during World War II she lived in

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...

. In 1946 or 1947 she married Johan Willem Blankenberg (born 26 July 1907 in

Muntok Muntok () or, more commonly, Mentok is a town in the Indonesian province of Bangka-Belitung on the island of Sumatra. The capital of West Bangka Regency (''Bangka Barat''), it is the site of the biggest tin smelter on the world. Mentok refers t ...

). In July 1947 she was repatriated from Batavia to the Netherlands on M.S. "Kota Baroe". Her husband was killed on 14 November 1949 in

Brebes Brebes (, , ) is a regency () in the northwestern part of Central Java province in Indonesia. It covers an area of 1,769.62 km2, and it had a population of 1,733,869 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 1,978,759 at ...

(

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

) during an attack on his place of work. Blankenberg-Van Delden read Egyptology at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

with Adolf Klasens starting from 1963. In 1969 she published her groundbreaking study into the

commemorative scarabs of Amenhotep III The commemorative scarabs of Amenhotep III were issued to commemorate the deeds of the pharaoh during his reign. Such scarabs were found in several archaeological sites of the Near East, from Syria to Sudan. Over two hundred of them are known to ...

.Although Klasens reportedly urged her to pursue the subject, the publication was dedicated to the memory of Jozef M.A. Janssen, who suggested this investigation. The catalogue includes all copies known at the time, including photographs or line drawings, plus transcription and translation of the texts on the scarabs. Blankenberg-Van Delden's designation of commemorative scarabs has become standard in Egyptology: category (indicated by a letter) and a sequence number, allowing for continuous numbering of newly found scarabs. The categories are, based on the text inscribed on the "belly" of the scarab: :A. ''‘Marriage’ Scarabs'' (text about Queen

Tiye Tiye (c. 1398 BC – 1338 BC, also spelled Tye, Taia, Tiy and Tiyi) was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III, mother of pharaoh Akhenaten and grandmother of pharaoh Tutankhamun; her parents were Yuya and Thuya. In 2010 ...

and her parents) :B. ''Wild Bull-Hunt Scarabs'' (account of a

royal hunt Royal Hunt is a Danish progressive metal band. The band was founded in 1989 by keyboardist André Andersen in order to combine basic values of classic rock with progressive, current musical elements. The name originated from a painting seen in ...

, regnal year 2) :C. ''Lion-Hunt Scarabs'' (account of several royal hunts, regnal years 1-10) :D. ''Gilukhepa Scarabs'' (arrival of

Mitanni Mitanni (–1260 BC), earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, ; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat in Assyrian records, or in Ancient Egypt, Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian language, Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria (region), Syria an ...

princess

Gilukhipa Gilukhipa, or more probable ''Kilu-Hepa'' in the Hurrian language, in the Egyptian language ''Kirgipa'' (fl. early 14th c. BCE), was the daughter of Shuttarna II, king of Mitanni. She was the sister of Tushratta (later King of Mitanni), Biria-W ...

, regnal year 10) :E. ''Lake Scarabs'' (construction of an artificial lake for Queen Tiye, regnal year 11) :F. ''Forgeries'' :LS ''Lost Scarabs'' (scarabs that have been documented, but are now lost) In 1976 and 1977 Blankenberg-Van Delden published additional scarabs; she transferred her materials gathered thereafter to R.J. Demarée who published them in 2011.

Publications

* ‘Gedenkscarabeeën van Amenhotep III in het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden’. ''Oudheidkundige mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden'' 42 (1961), 7–12.
''The large commemorative scarabs of Amenhotep III''
Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui, Vol. 15. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1969. . * ‘De grote gedenkscarabeeën van Amenhotep III -1-’. ''De Ibis: ude serie' 1 (4) (1970), 77–81. * ‘De grote gedenkscarabeeën van Amenhotep III -2-’. ''De Ibis: ude serie' 1 (5) (1970), 109–114. * ‘De grote gedenkscarabeeën van Amenhotep III -3-’. ''De Ibis: ude serie' 1 (6) (1970), 124–127. * ‘More large commemorative scarabs of Amenophis III’. ''

JEA JEA is a municipal utility providing safe, reliable and affordable services to more than one million residents across four Northeast Florida counties. JEA is not owned by investors and does not earn a profit. It was created by the City of Jacks ...

'' 62 (1976), 74–80, pls. XII-XIII. * ‘Once again some more commemorative scarabs of Amenophis III’. ''JEA'' 63 (1977), 83–87, pls. XIII-XIV. * ‘Ahmes Merytamon and Ahhotep I, consort of Senakhtenre Tao I?’ '' GM'' 47 (1981), 15–19. * ‘Additional remarks on Queen Ahhotep, consort of Senakhtenre Tao I?’ ''GM'' 49 (1981), 17–18. * ‘Some observations on Amarna themes’. ''Oudheidkundige mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden'' 62 (1981), 1–6. * ‘A genealogical reconstruction of the kings and queens of the late 17th and early 18th dynasties’. ''GM'' 54 (1982), 31–45. * ‘Kamosis’. ''GM'' 60 (1982), 7–8. * ‘Queen Ahmes Merytamon’. ''GM'' 61 (1983), 13–16. * ‘Ahmes Satamon’. ''GM'' 68 (1983), 37–41. * ‘Ahmes Satamon once again’. ''JEA'' 72 (1986), 192–193. * , ‘The Commemorative Scarabs of Amenophis III: An Update’, ''Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux'' 43 (2011), 25–34.

Sources

* ‘Blankenberg-van Delden, Catharina (1906-1994)’. In: (ed.), ''Who Was Who in Egyptology'' (5th Revised Edition). London:

Egypt Exploration Society The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) is a British non-profit organization founded in 1882 for the purpose of financing and facilitating the exploration of significant archeological sites in Egypt and Sudan, founded by writer Amelia Edwards and coin ...

, 2019; p. 55. * , ‘De geschiedenis van de egyptologie aan Nederlandse universiteiten’. In: , (red.), ''Waar de geschiedenis begon''. Leiden: NINO, 2014; p. 57. * , ‘Chapter 5 - The Netherlands’. In: , , (eds.), ''A History of World Egyptology''. Cambridge University Press, 2021; p. 148.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blankenberg-van Delden, C. Dutch Egyptologists Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies 1906 births 1994 deaths People from Yogyakarta