Karl Richard Lepsius

Karl Richard Lepsius (1810-1884), German Egyptologist, born in Naumburg on December 23, 1810, and educated at the universities of Leipzig, Göttingen, and Berlin. Lepsius was one of the most eminent Egyptologists of the 19th century. He studied Egyptian archaeological collections in Italy, Britain, and the Netherlands, and in 1842 he led a scientific expedition to Egypt organized under the patronage of Frederick William IV, king of Prussia. From 1842 to 1845 the expedition explored the Nile River valley, proceeding far into the Sudan, making maps, casts of sculptures, and drawings of inscriptions. On a second expedition to Egypt in 1866, Lepsius discovered the Table of Canopus, an inscription in Greek, hieroglyphic, and demotic, which proved to be of value to philologists in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. In 1873 Lepsius became keeper of the Royal Library in Berlin, where he died on July 10, 1884.

As a writer on Egyptian archaeology, Lepsius is best known for his Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien (Egyptian and Ethiopian Monuments, 12 volumes, 1859), which includes a complete account of his first expedition. His other works include Totenbuch der Ägypter (Egyptian Book of the Dead, 1842) and Königsbuch der alten Ägypter (Book of Ancient Egyptian Kings, 1858).