The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Brugsch, Heinrich Karl

BRUGSCH, Heinrich Karl, German Egyptologist: b. Berlin, 18 Feb. 1827; d. Charlottenburg, 9 Sept. 1894. A work entitled ‘Scriptura Ægyptiorum Demotica,’ published in 1848, gained him the favor of Alexander von Humboldt and Frederick William IV, the latter of whom enabled him to complete his studies by visiting the museums of Paris, London, Turin and Leyden. In 1853 he made his first visit to Egypt and assisted Mariette in his researches, being appointed on his return in the following year assistant in the Berlin Egyptian Museum. He accompanied the Prussian embassy to Persia in 1860, and four years later became consul at Cairo. Returning in 1868, he was appointed to the chair of Egyptology at Göttingen, but soon resigned in order to take charge of the Cairo school of Egyptology. He was soon raised to the rank of bey, and some time afterward to that of pasha. In 1876 he came to the United States as Egyptian commissioner to the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia. In 1883 he traveled in Egypt, Syria, Greece and Italy, with Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia, and in 1885-86 he twice visited Persia, partly on official business. He was again in Egypt in 1891, and in the following year he made a journey to the Libyan Desert. Brugsch's chief work is the ‘Hieroglyphisch-demotisches Wörterbuch’ (1867-82). His other writings include ‘Reiseberichte aus Ägypten’ (1855); ‘Grammaire Demotique’ (1855); ‘Monuments de l'Egypte’ (1857); ‘Geographische Inschriften altägyptischer Denkmäler’ (1857-60); ‘Histoire d'Egypte’ (1859); ‘Recueil des Monuments Egyptiens’ (1862-85); ‘Reise der königlich Preussischer Gesandtschaft nach Persien’ (1862-63); ‘Hieroglyphische Grammatik’ (1872); ‘Geschichte Ägyptens unter den Pharaonen’ (1877); ‘Dictionaire Géographique de l'ancienne Egypte’ (1877-80); ‘Religion und Mythologie der alten Ägypter, nach den Denkmälern’ (1888); ‘Thesaurus Inscriptionum Ægyptiacarum’ (1883-91); ‘Die Ägyptologie’ (1890); ‘Aus dem Morgenlande, Altes und Neues’ (1893), etc. His ‘History of Egypt from the Monuments’ has appeared in English. In 1894 his autobiography appeared under the title ‘Mein Leben und Wandern.’