Zahi Hawass

Zahi Hawass A. (Arabic زاهى حواس Zahi Hawass ) ( born May 28, 1947 in Damietta ) is an Egyptian Egyptologist. He was Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities ( Supreme Council of Antiquities SCA) and is considered one of the most influential and controversial Egyptologists of the present. On 31 January 2011 he was appointed by President Hosni Mubarak's Minister of Antiquities goods, on March 3, he was no longer taken into account in a government reshuffle, however, re-appointed on 30 March 2011 and released on July 17 of the same year again.

  • 2.1 criticism

Life and work

Study

Zahi Hawass original aim was a lawyer. However, he changed his mind and studied Greek and Roman archeology at Alexandria, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1967. His degree in Egyptology, he received in 1980 at the University of Cairo. With the help of a Fulbright scholarship, he studied at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (USA) on Egyptology and Syro -Palestinian archeology. Here, in 1987 he also received his doctorate.

Activity as an archaeologist and Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities

From 1988 he taught Egyptian archeology, history and culture, mostly at the American University in Cairo and at the University of California at Los Angeles. 1998 he was appointed Under Secretary of State for the monuments at Giza. He became Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, 2002. In addition to its numerous projects in practical archeology Zahi Hawass also writes scripts for documentary films that deal with the Egyptology and Egyptian studies. He often occurs in this case as a speaker or commentator in the movies.

In addition to serving as Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Hawass is currently among other things, the excavation director for the following projects:

  • Third Pyramid at Giza ( Pyramid of Mycerinus )
  • Valley Temple of Chephren in Giza,
  • Tombs of the overseer southeast of the Sphinx,
  • Teti Pyramid ( Teti II ) at Saqqara,
  • Nazlet el- Batran and
  • Beni Youssef.

In addition, he is also director of the Sphinx restoration, manager of the Giza Plateau and the excavation sites in Memphis. In recent years, Hawass employed, among others, also intensively with the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. In order to determine his cause of death he let on 6 January 2005 to examine the mummy CT scan and then publish the results.

Activity since the revolution in Egypt in 2011

On 31 January 2011 ( according to Hawass ' own statements on 30 January), Hawass was appointed Egyptian Minister of Antiquities goods after the entire government was dismissed by the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak before.

Apparently Hawass is no longer included in the cabinet reshuffle of 3 March 2011. He announced his resignation on 6 March. Among the reasons he mentioned that after the revolution in Egypt in 2011 the army was no longer able to protect the antiquities, and he therefore could no longer guarantee their safety, as well as a defamation of his person by two employees in the Egyptian Antiquities Service and a professor at the University of Cairo. Prior However, there were also protests in which employees of the Department of Antiquities and young Egyptian Egyptologists together with better salaries demanded the resignation of Hawass. It was accused that he had been the old regime under Mubarak too close and its system significantly supported. Hawass dismissed the allegations against his person back: The demonstrators demanded better salaries only.

On 30 March 2011 he was again appointed Minister of Antiquities goods, a day after UNESCO had complained a better surveillance of Egyptian antiquities on March 29, 2011.

In April 2011 he was sentenced to one year's imprisonment and the payment of 10,000 Egyptian pounds for contempt of a court judgment or older. He, however, announced it would appeal, which is why he was leaving, however, lack the judgment becomes final in office. Cause of the dispute was a lease with the owner of the bookstore in the Egyptian Museum. Zahi Hawass announced the contract and wrote it again from what the operators complained and got in front of court, although only, as had already been awarded the contract, a new tenant. After release from Zahi Hawass, the government issued on April 18, 2011, a decree that stopped the trial. It stipulated that he had to serve no jail time and continued to remain in the office of the Minister of antiquity goods.

On July 17, 2011 Hawass finally lost his ministerial post. He would only be active in science in the future, it said.

Resonance of Hawass ' work

The Egyptology owes Hawass greater overall attention from the international media and the world public. For the future he planned 14 new museums, including the Great Egyptian Museum in Giza, which is expected to cost only half a billion U.S. dollars. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo was renovated thanks to his initiative. Hawass also introduced a payment of domestic excavation inspectors by the foreign archaeologists, as well as publication of their scientific reports in Arabic.

In Europe and the USA Hawass was perceived mainly by its demand return of ancient Egyptian antiquities. Hawass claimed that about pieces such as the Rosetta Stone or the bust of Nefertiti be handed over to Egypt; However, these claims have never had an official character.

Criticism

From professional colleagues the work of Zahi Hawass is judged ambivalent. Although its technical quality is highly valued and appreciated his commitment to the popularization of Egyptology, but also criticized that Hawass ' public relations has become a attention craving sensationalism. Especially in the criticism was the live broadcast of the exploration of the ventilation passage in the Great Pyramid on 17 September 2002 and the simultaneous opening of a tomb. Here, the transfer was not only critical, but also the scientific nature of the work. Thus, among other things, by Dietrich Wildungsmauer, former director of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, doubted that there had really been a live broadcast at the sarcophagus opening, and complains that Hawass had the results presented it positively.

In addition, Hawass made ​​on 11 February 2009 's controversial remarks on Egyptian television, according to which the Jews planned to dominate the world as well as business and media would control. In his opinion, they owed this strength of their own unity, while the Arab world was, however, differed.

Honors

  • The asteroid ( 17945 ) Hawass was named after him.
  • Honorary Doctor of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa
  • Support of religious El Sol del Perú
  • Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute

Writings

German

  • The Valley of the Golden Mummies. The latest and greatest discovery of our time. Joke, Bern / Munich / Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-502-15300-0.
  • Images of immortality. The books of the dead from the royal tombs at Thebes. Saverne, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-3650-0.
  • World of gods and pharaohs kingdom. White-Star -Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-939128-40-6.
  • The forbidden tombs in Thebes. with photographs by Sandro Vannini, Saverne, Mainz 2009, ISBN 978-3-8053-4077-9.
  • The pyramids. ( Picture book ) White- Star -Verlag, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3867-26184-5.

English

  • The Golden Age of Tutankhamun. Divine Might and Splendor in the New Kingdom. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo / New York 2004, ISBN 977-424-836-8.
  • Curse of the Pharaohs. My Adventures with Mummies. National Geographic Society, Washington DC 2004, ISBN 0-7922-6665- X.
  • Hidden Treasures of Ancient Egypt. Unearthing the Masterpieces of the Egyptian History. National Geographic Society, Washington DC 2004, ISBN 0-7922-6319-7.
  • Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty- First Century. Vol 1-3. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo / New York 2003, ISBN 977-424-674-8, ISBN 977-424-714-0, ISBN 977-424-715-9.
  • Secret from the Sand: My Search for Egypt 's Past. Harry N. Abrams, New York 2003, ISBN 0-8109-4542-8.
  • As editor of Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The Archaeology Museum. The Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zamalek 2002, ISBN 977-305-326-1.
  • As editor: The Treasures of the Pyramids. White Star Editions, Vercelli 2003, ISBN 88-8095-233-1.
  • As editor: The Treasures of the Pyramids. German edition, Weltbild, Augsburg 2004, ISBN 3-8289-0809-8.
  • David Fromkin, Milton Viorst: Cradle & Crucible. History and Faith in the Middle East. National Geographic Society, Washington DC 2002, ISBN 0-7922-6597-1.
  • The Mysteries of Abu Simbel. Ramesses II and the Temples of the Rising Sun. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo / New York 2001, ISBN 977-424-623-3.
  • Silent Images. Women in Pharaonic Egypt. Harry N. Abrams, New York 2000, ISBN 0-8109-4478-2.
  • Valley of the Golden Mummies. The Greatest Egyptian Discovery Since Tutankhamun. New edition. Virgin Books, London 2000, ISBN 1-85227-849-8.
  • The Secrets of the Sphinx. Restoration Past and Present. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo / New York 1998, ISBN 977-424-492-3.
Fulbright Program Great Pyramid of Giza (17945) Hawass Netzeitung Integrated Authority File
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