Alan Jenvey Rowe (29 October 1891 – 3 January 1968) was a British archaeologist most famous for his studies on ancient Egypt. Rowe was an

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

and lecturer in Near Eastern Archaeology in

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

Life

Born in

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

and raised in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, Rowe's work included Egypt,

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...

, Australia, Palestine and Syria.

Career

Excavations

Between 1923 and 1925 he took part in a core expedition to

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...

. He worked from 1928 to 1931 on the pyramid of

Meidum Meidum, Maydum or Maidum ( ar, ميدوم, , ) is an archaeological site in Lower Egypt. It contains a large pyramid and several mudbrick mastabas. The pyramid was Egypt's first straight-sided one, but it partially collapsed in ancient times. The ...

, and surrounding areas, during this time he discovered the first royal

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

built in a style of a

royal court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...

. His work ended due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

of 1931. In 1934 he led an expedition to

Tel Gezer Gezer, or Tel Gezer ( he, גֶּזֶר), in ar, تل الجزر – Tell Jezar or Tell el-Jezari is an archaeological site in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains at the border of the Shfela region roughly midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv ...

(midway between

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

), but the locations identified for excavation turned out not to be workable. In 1938 he led a team from

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

to the Pyramid of Athribis, unfortunately the structure was already in such a heavily damaged state, preventing more thorough examinations. Between 1952 and 1957 Rowe surveyed and excavated tombs of the

Necropolis of Cyrene The Necropolis of Cyrene is a necropolis located between Cyrene, Libya and the ancient port of Apollonia, Cyrenaica, Apollonia, at the western slope of the Wadi Haleg Shaloof hill. It is around 10 square kilometres in size. With terraced archaic t ...

, in the course of four campaigns. Rowe was the first to make an extensive archaeological study of the Necropolis of Cyrene, however, many artifacts from his excavations are considered to be lost. Rowe published extensive findings from excavating large parts of the

Serapeum of Alexandria The Serapeum of Alexandria in the Ptolemaic Kingdom was an ancient Greek temple built by Ptolemy III Euergetes (reigned 246–222 BC) and dedicated to Serapis, who was made the protector of Alexandria. There are also signs of Harpocrates. I ...

in 1956 together with B. R. Rees, including a detailed floor plan. Rowe and Rees 1956 suggested that statues found at the Serapeum of Alexandria and

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Saqqara Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. ...

, share a similar theme, such as with

Plato's Academy mosaic Plato's Academy mosaic is a work of visual art created in the villa of T. Siminius Stephanus in Pompeii, around 100 BC to 79 AD. Of mosaic construction, it has roughly square dimensions, and is about the size of a large dinner plate. It depic ...

Publications

The Four Canaanite Temples of Beth-shan
Beth-shan II:1, University Museum: Philadelphia, 1940. *''New Light on Aegypto-Cyrenaean Relations: Two Ptolemaic Statues Found in Tolmeita'' - l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale (1948). *''A Contribution to the Archaeology of the Western Desert: IV - The Great Serapeum of Alexandria'' (1956) (with B. R. Rees). in: ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library''; vol. 39 *''A Contribution to the Archaeology of the Western Desert: I, II & III''; in: ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library''; vols. 36 & 38 *''Studies in the Archaeology of the Near East: I & II''; in: ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library''; vols. 43 & 44

References

1891 births 1968 deaths British archaeologists British Egyptologists 20th-century archaeologists People from Deptford Academics of the University of Manchester {{UK-archaeologist-stub