Miriam Lichtheim (; 3 May 1914,

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

– 27 March 2004,

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

) 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 Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

– and his wife Irene (''née'' Hafter), a

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

Jew whose first language was Greek. Her older brother, born 1912, was the British

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1934, the family emigrated to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, where Miriam studied under Hans Jakob Polotsky in the Hebrew University in

. 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 The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

, 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the founding of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. 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 Ancient Greek, Greek , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian History of Egypt, history, Egyptian language, language, Ancient Egypt ...

from the University of Chicago. She worked as an

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

librarian first at Yale University, and then at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, where she was

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

Bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliograph ...

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; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. She died in 2004.

Works

In 1973, she published the first volume of the ''

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

'' (abbr. ''AEL''),

annotated An annotation is extra information associated with a particular point in a document or other piece of information. It can be a note that includes a comment or explanation. Annotations are sometimes presented in the margin of book pages. For anno ...

translations of Old and Middle Kingdom texts. In this work, she describes the genesis and

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

of different

literary genre A literary genre is a category of literature. Genres may be determined by List of narrative techniques, literary technique, Tone (literature), tone, Media (communication), content, or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from mor ...

s in Egypt, based on

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

, 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'' or ''papyruses'') can ...

. In 1976, the second volume of ''AEL'' containing New Kingdom texts appeared, followed in 1980 by the third dealing with the first millennium BCE literature. These widely used anthologies became

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

in the field of

, 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 Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

", ''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 Pres
Volume 1Volume 2
&
Volume 3
* 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 Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem University of California, Los Angeles faculty American women academics German expatriates in the Ottoman Empire German emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Emigrants from Mandatory Palestine to the United States Archaeologists from Istanbul Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni American Egyptologists American papyrologists Jewish women writers Israeli women academics Academic librarians American women archaeologists Israeli women archaeologists Israeli people of German-Jewish descent Israeli people of Greek-Jewish descent