Richard Anthony Parker
Encyclopedia
Richard Anthony Parker was a prominent Egyptologist and professor of Egyptology
. Originally from Chicago
, he attended Mt. Carmel High School
(then known as St. Cyril) with acclaimed author James T. Farrell
. He received an A.B. from Dartmouth College
in 1930, and a Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago
in 1938. He then went to Luxor
, Egypt
to work as an epigrapher with the University of Chicago’s Epigraphic and Architectural Survey, studying the mortuary temple of Ramses III. When World War II
necessitated a temporary halt to the project, Parker came back to Chicago to teach Egyptology at the university. In 1946, he returned to Egypt to continue his work on the epigraphic survey, and soon rose to the position of field director.
In 1948, he founded the Department of Egyptology at Brown University
and became its first chairman, and also assumed the newly-created position of the Charles Edwin Wilbour
Professorship. That year, Parker also began his service as a founding trustee of the American Research Center in Egypt
.
Parker's primary interests were in ancient science and mathematics
. In 1951, he traveled to Egypt to examine monuments linked to ancient astronomy, and in subsequent years studied papyri at Paris
, Florence
, Vienna
, Copenhagen
and Oxford
, in Britain
. His major contributions included significant work in the areas of Egyptian language (including Demotic
), astronomy
, and chronology
. Of particular note was his discovery that two ancient Egyptian calendars were employed simultaneously: a 365-day calendar used for administrative needs, and a lunar calendar used for religious and agricultural purposes. Parker’s work in this area continues to influence Egyptology research.
In 1971, British Academy
elected Parker as a corresponding fellow, the highest accolade for scholarship given in Great Britain
. He was the only American Egyptologist selected for membership in the society. Parker also served on the visiting committees of Harvard University
’s department of Middle Eastern Civilizations, and was a member of the department of Egyptian art
at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Parker was a devoted fan of Brown University football
, and was noted for foregoing trips abroad so as not to miss a home game.
Egyptology
Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
. Originally from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, he attended Mt. Carmel High School
Mount Carmel High School (Chicago)
Mount Carmel High School is an all boys, Catholic high school in the city of Chicago, Illinois. Located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, the school has been operated by the Carmelite order of priests and brothers since 1900...
(then known as St. Cyril) with acclaimed author James T. Farrell
James T. Farrell
James Thomas Farrell was an American novelist. One of his most famous works was the Studs Lonigan trilogy, which was made into a film in 1960 and into a television miniseries in 1979...
. He received an A.B. from Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
in 1930, and a Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1938. He then went to Luxor
Luxor
Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate. The population numbers 487,896 , with an area of approximately . As the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open air museum", as the ruins of the temple...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
to work as an epigrapher with the University of Chicago’s Epigraphic and Architectural Survey, studying the mortuary temple of Ramses III. When World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
necessitated a temporary halt to the project, Parker came back to Chicago to teach Egyptology at the university. In 1946, he returned to Egypt to continue his work on the epigraphic survey, and soon rose to the position of field director.
In 1948, he founded the Department of Egyptology at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
and became its first chairman, and also assumed the newly-created position of the Charles Edwin Wilbour
Charles Edwin Wilbour
Charles Edwin Wilbour was an American journalist and Egyptologist. He was one of the discoverers of the Elephantine Papyri. He produced the first American translation of Les Misérables.-Biography:...
Professorship. That year, Parker also began his service as a founding trustee of the American Research Center in Egypt
American Research Center in Egypt
The American Research Center in Egypt is a scholarly institution dedicated to supporting the conservation of Egyptian antiquities and research in Egyptology, Coptology and all periods of Egyptian history.-History:ARCE was founded in 1948 in Boston by Edward W...
.
Parker's primary interests were in ancient science and mathematics
Egyptian mathematics
Egyptian mathematics is the mathematics that was developed and used in Ancient Egypt from ca. 3000 BC to ca. 300 BC.-Overview:Written evidence of the use of mathematics dates back to at least 3000 BC with the ivory labels found at Tomb Uj at Abydos. These labels appear to have been used as tags for...
. In 1951, he traveled to Egypt to examine monuments linked to ancient astronomy, and in subsequent years studied papyri at Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
and Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. His major contributions included significant work in the areas of Egyptian language (including Demotic
Demotic (Egyptian)
Demotic refers to either the ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of hieratic used in the Delta, or the stage of the Egyptian language following Late Egyptian and preceding Coptic. The term was first used by the Greek historian Herodotus to distinguish it from hieratic and...
), astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, and chronology
Egyptian chronology
The creation of a reliable chronology of Ancient Egypt is a task fraught with problems. While the overwhelming majority of Egyptologists agree on the outline and many of the details of a common chronology, disagreements either individually or in groups have resulted in a variety of dates offered...
. Of particular note was his discovery that two ancient Egyptian calendars were employed simultaneously: a 365-day calendar used for administrative needs, and a lunar calendar used for religious and agricultural purposes. Parker’s work in this area continues to influence Egyptology research.
In 1971, British Academy
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
elected Parker as a corresponding fellow, the highest accolade for scholarship given in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. He was the only American Egyptologist selected for membership in the society. Parker also served on the visiting committees of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
’s department of Middle Eastern Civilizations, and was a member of the department of Egyptian art
Art of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian art is the painting, sculpture, architecture and other arts produced by the civilization in the lower Nile Valley from 5000 BC to 300 AD. Ancient Egyptian art reached a high level in painting and sculpture, and was both highly stylized and symbolic...
at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Parker was a devoted fan of Brown University football
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, and was noted for foregoing trips abroad so as not to miss a home game.
Publications
- Medinet Habu Demotic Ostracon 4038 (1938) (doctoral dissertation; a revised version was published in Volume XXVI (1940) of the Journal of Egyptian ArchaeologyJournal of Egyptian ArchaeologyThe Journal of Egyptian Archaeology or JEA is a scientific journal containing scholarly articles and reviews of recent books of importance to Egyptology....
under the title A Late Demotic Gardening Agreement: Medinet Habu Ostracon 4038) - Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C. - A.D. 45 (University of Chicago Press, 1946)
- The Calendars of Ancient Egypt, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization (University of Chicago Press, 1950)
- Sothic Dates and Calendar Adjustment
- The Problem of the Month-Names: A Reply (1957)
- Lunar Dates of Thutmose III and Ramesses II (Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1957)
- A Vienna Demotic Papyrus on Eclipse- and Lunar-Omina (Brown University Press, 1959)
- Egyptian Astronomical Texts (with O. Neugebauer) (1960)
- A Saite Oracle Papyrus From Thebes (with J. Cerny) (Brown University Press, 1962)
- Two Demotic Astronomical Papyri in the Carlsberg Collection (1962)
- Egyptian Astronomical Texts, III. Decans, Planets, Constellations and Zodiacs (Brown University Press, 1969)
- The Calendars and Chronology, the Legacy of Egypt (1971)
- Demotic Mathematical Papyri (Brown University Press, 1972)
- Ancient Egyptian Astronomy, the Place of Astronomy in the Ancient World (Oxford University Press, 1974)
- The Edifice of Taharqa by the Sacred Lake of Karnak (with Jean LeclantJean LeclantJean Leclant was a renowned Egyptologist who was an Honorary Professor at the College of France, Permanent Secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Letters of the Institut de France, and Honorary Secretary of the ....
and Jean Claude Goyon) (Brown University Press, 1979) - Egyptological Studies in Honor of Richard A. Parker: Presented on the Occasion of His 78th Birthday (Leonard H. LeskoLeonard H. LeskoLeonard H. Lesko was the Chairman of the Department of Egyptology at Brown University and held the Charles Edwin Wilbour Professorship. In 1961, he received a B.A. in Classics from Loyola University Chicago, and his masters in 1964. In 1969, he received a Ph.D. in " Near Eastern Languages and...
, ed.) (1986)
External links
- John Larson & Janet Johnson, In Memoriam: Richard Anthony Parker (1993)