Jean Clédat

Jean Clédat
Born (1871-05-07)7 May 1871
Périgueux, France
Died 29 July 1943(1943-07-29) (aged 72)
Nationality French
Occupation
Organization French Institute of Oriental Archaeology

Jean Clédat (7 May 1871 – 29 July 1943) was a French Egyptologist, archaeologist and philologist. He became a resident at the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale (French Institute of Oriental Archaeology). At various times, Clédat's expeditions was sponsored by Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez (the Suez Canal Company), the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the Comité, and the Institut itself.[1]

Biography

Clédat was born in Périgueux in 1871. Thanks to the archaeological program instilled by Gaston Maspero, head of Egyptian Antiquities, Clédat was sent in search of Christian monuments of Egypt. In 1901, he began excavating Bawit (French: Baouît) and in the winter of 1903–4, he uncovered the Bawit monastery of Apa Apollo, founded in the fourth century.[2] He made further excavations at Bawit until 1905; the ostraca and papyri that he unearthed are now housed in the Musee du Perigord and the Ismalia Museum of Cairo.[3] He was responsible for excavating many prestigious archaeological sites in Egypt, including Deir Abu Hennis, St. Simeon Monastery, Aswan, Asyut, Akhmim, Sohag, Luxor, Elephantine, Tell el-Herr, Tell el-Maskhouta, Mahemdiah and El Qantara. At Qasr-Gheit (North Sinai), Clédat concluded that it had been a Nabataean station on a secondary caravan route from Arabia to Egypt.[4]

"In the Revue Mensuelle de l'Ecole d'Anthropologie de Paris (Vol. IX., 1899, pp. 201–226), Cledat discusses the difficult and dangerous problem of "Egyptian Origins." According to Cledat, the fellah of today hardly represents the true ancient Egyptian type, which already in the time of the great Ramses had come to be quite mixed. The autocthones of Egypt, Cledat thinks, were negroes upon which "Ethiopians, i.e. Egyptians, intruded". (The American antiquarian and oriental journal, 1909)

[5]

In the second half of 1904, Prince Augustus of Arenberg, on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez, committed Clédat as director of the company's archaeological excavations. In 1910, Clédat excavated at Pelusium in Tell el-Farama, and made a sketch map of the site and also discovered an inscription mentioning Emperor Hadrian.[6] At various times, Clédat's expeditions were sponsored by others, including the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the Comite, and the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale.[1]

Clédat was a prolific author. In his essay, "Pour la Conquête de l'Egypte" (1919), he described Egyptian methods of defense and offense upon the present Suez Canal route in ancient times. In Notes sur l'isthme de Suez (1910), the remains of a Byzantine fortress at the same locality are illustrated by a plan, and the Israelite passage of the Red Sea includes an excellent map.[7] Clédat was quite well known for his drawings and outlines.[8] He was a talented artist, and regularly published his work, leaving valuable books still being studied today. After his death in 1943, his archives were donated to the Louvre by his daughter. A street is named after him in his hometown.

Partial works

Literature

References

  1. 1 2 Reid, Donald Malcolm (2002). Whose pharaohs?: archaeology, museums, and Egyptian national identity from Napoleon to World War I. University of California Press. pp. 270–. ISBN 978-0-520-22197-0. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  2. ↑ Archaeological Institute of America; American School of Classical Studies at Athens; American School of Classical Studies in Rome; American School for Oriental Study and Research in Palestine (1905). American Journal of Archaeology: The Journal of the Archaeological Institute of America. Macmillan Co. p. 135. Retrieved 24 March 2012. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
  3. ↑ Immerzeel, Mat (2004). Coptic studies on the threshold of a new millennium: proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies, Leiden, August 27 – September 2, 2000. Peeters Publishers. p. 478. ISBN 978-90-429-1409-4. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  4. ↑ Hawass, Zahi A.; Brock, Lyla Pinch (2003). Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century: Archaeology. American Univ in Cairo Press. p. 195. ISBN 978-977-424-674-6. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  5. ↑ Peet, Stephen Denison (1900). The American antiquarian and oriental journal (Public domain ed.). Jameson & Morse. pp. 262–. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  6. ↑ "Pelusium (Tell el-Farama) in the Sinai by Jimmy Dunn". Tour Egypt. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  7. ↑ Petrie, William Matthew Flinders (1920). Ancient Egypt and the East (Public domain ed.). Macmillan and Co. pp. 95–. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  8. ↑ Bosse-Griffiths, Kate; Griffiths, John Gwyn (2001). Amarna Studies and Other Selected Papers. Saint-Paul. p. 204. ISBN 978-3-525-53997-2. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
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