Philip Langstaffe Ord Guy (23 January 1885 – 7 December 1952) was a British archaeologist, administrator, and

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer.

Career

Having served in the

First World War 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 ...

, Guy assisted with the excavations at

Carchemish Carchemish ( or ), also spelled Karkemish (), was an important ancient capital in the northern part of the region of Syria. At times during its history the city was independent, but it was also part of the Mitanni, Hittite and Neo-Assyrian ...

in Syria and El Amarna in Egypt. In 1922, he was appointed Chief Inspector of Antiquities in Palestine and began an association with the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

that would last the rest of his life. He served as Director of the

Tel Megiddo Tel Megiddo (from ) is the site of the ancient city of Megiddo (; ), the remains of which form a tell or archaeological mound, situated in northern Israel at the western edge of the Jezreel Valley about southeast of Haifa near the depopulate ...

excavations from 1927 to 1935 succeeding Clarence S. Fisher, and then as Director of the

British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem The Kenyon Institute, previously known as the British School of Archaeology at Jerusalem (BSAJ), is a British research institute supporting humanities and social science studies in Israel and Palestine. It is part of the Council for British Resear ...

from 1935 to 1939. He innovated the use of balloon photography in archaeology during his excavations at Megiddo. He returned to the British Army during the

Second World War 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 ...

, being promoted to lieutenant colonel and serving as a military governor. With the end of the war and the independence of Israel, he remained in the country and joined the newly created Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums.

Personal life

In 1925, Guy married Yemima, the eldest daughter of

Eliezer Ben Yehuda Eliezer Ben‑Yehuda (born Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman; 7 January 1858 – 16 December 1922) was a Russian–Jewish linguist, lexicographer, and journalist who immigrated to Jerusalem in 1881, when the Ottoman Empire ruled it. He is renowned as the ...

, a lexicographer and

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 ...

responsible in large part for the revival of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

. They had a daughter.

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guy, P.L.O. 1885 births 1952 deaths Machine Gun Corps officers British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II 20th-century British archaeologists Biblical archaeologists British Egyptologists Royal Army Service Corps officers Tel Megiddo