Mostafa Abdel-Hamid el-Abbadi (; 10 October 1928 – 13 February 2017) was a prominent Egyptian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

public intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

and professor specialized in

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

studies. He died on 13 February 2017, at the age of 88, in Alexandria.

Education

El-Abbadi was educated in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and the United Kingdom. He completed his undergraduate BA at

Alexandria University Alexandria University () is a public university in Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1938 as a satellite of Fouad University (the name of which was later changed to Cairo University), becoming an independent entity in 1942. It was known as ...

. At age 22, he was awarded a scholarship from the Egyptian government to study at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He graduated with special BA and PhD in

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...

at Cambridge. He received an honorary doctorate from the

Université du Québec à Montréal The (UQAM; ), is a French language, French-language public university, public research university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the system. UQAM was founded on April 9, 1969, by the government o ...

(UQAM).

Work

After graduation, El-Abbadi became a lecturer and then a professor in Greco-Roman studies at the

University of Alexandria Alexandria University () is a public university in Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1938 as a satellite of Fouad University (the name of which was later changed to Cairo University), becoming an independent entity in 1942. It was known as ...

Ismail Serageldin Ismail Serageldin (; born 1944 in Giza, Egypt), Founding Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), the new Library of Alexandria, inaugurated in 2002, is currently, Emeritus Librarian, and member of the Board of Trustees of the Library of Alex ...

credited him with initially proposing the revival of the ancient

library of Alexandria The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, ...

. The project was embraced by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

in 1986, and the

Bibliotheca Alexandrina The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Latin, 'Library of Alexandria'; , ) (BA) is a major library and cultural center on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria, Egypt. It is a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria, once one of the larg ...

was completed in 2003, but he was not invited to the opening. He was critical of some of aspects of the project as realized by the Egyptian government, telling the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' that the library was at risk of becoming "a cultural center" rather than fulfilling its "promise as a world-class research center." He authored the Library of Alexandria entry in the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

''. El-Abbadi was a member of Egypt's Supreme Council of Culture (SCC), Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), and l'

Institut d'Égypte The Institut d'Égypte or Egyptian Scientific Institute is a learned society in Cairo specializing in Egyptology. It was established in 1798 by Napoleon I of France, Napoleon Bonaparte to carry out research during his French Invasion of Egypt (17 ...

. He served as president of the Archaeological Society of Alexandria and was an advisor to UNESCO.

Personal life

Mostafa El-Abbadi was married to the literary critic and scholar Azza Kararah, who died in 2015. His father, Abdel-Hamid El-Abbadi, was a historian and founding dean of the Faculty of Arts at the

. He had two children, a son, the computer scientist Amr El Abbadi and a daughter, Dr Mohga El-Abbadi.

Honours

El-Abbadi was a recipient of the

Order of the Nile The Order of the Nile (''Kiladat El Nil'') was established in 1915 and was one of the Kingdom of Egypt's principal orders until the monarchy was abolished in 1953. It was then reconstituted as the Republic of Egypt's highest state honor. Sulta ...

. On 10 October 2022, he was celebrated online with a

Google Doodle Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running annual Bu ...

Selected works

* ''What happened to the ancient Library of Alexandria?'' Leiden: Brill (2008). * ''The Life and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria.'' Paris: UNESCO (1990, 1992, 1999). * "The Alexandrian Citizenship," ''Journal of Egyptian Archaeology'' (1962).

References

External links

Profiled in: Stille, Alexander. "Resurrecting Alexandria," ''The New Yorker'', May 8, 2000.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbadi, Mostafa El- 1928 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Egyptian historians Academic staff of Alexandria University Recipients of the Order of Merit (Egypt) Alexandria University alumni Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge 21st-century Egyptian historians People from Cairo