Dr. Willem Pleyte (26 June 1836 – 1 March 1903) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

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

museum director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

Family

Willem Pleyte was the son of Cornelius Marinus Pleyte. He was born on 26 June 1836 in

Hillegom Hillegom () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Hillegom is part of an area called the Duin- en Bollenstreek ("Dune and Bulb Region"). As such, a large portion of the local economy was tradition ...

, where his father was a pastor.

Education

He attended the French school in Loenen (which was not very highly regarded) from 1840. He was then sent to the Gymnasium Bommel, where his uncle was the rector where he studied up to 1855. From 1855 to 1860, Pleyte studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at the Opzoomer college of

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

. He found the subject of theology to his liking and did well in his studies. In 1860, he completed his education successfully.

Career

He hoped to follow in the footsteps of his father and started his career from 1860 in church council of Gelderland and he found the job of a preacher not to his liking. During this time, for two years, he also ventured into scientific research in theology and started writing articles and publishing them in journals; the first article was "The Book of Noah “ and the others were "the Ascension of the Prophet Jesus", and “the Removal of Moses” and published them in journals. He then started research on Egyptology, a subject still in its infancy with very few well known experts in the field such as Rouge, Lepsius, Brugsch and others. From 1862 to 1892, he also wrote several publications for which he was criticized, such as "La religion pre-Israelite; Recherches sur le dieu Set" (1865). He was dispirited by this critique but continued to write. His next work was on "Lettre à Monsieur Théodule Deveria sur quelques monuments relatifs au Dieu Set" which refers to monuments, their locations and worship practices of gods with many names of the northern and southern nations. He then wrote a few articles on the value of various hieroglyphics and the numerals in Egyptian in "Zeitschrift fur Aegyptische Sprache und Alterthumskunde" which were well received. his" Etudes Égyptologiques' the attention. A notable work of Pleyte was in 1868, when he wrote an article for "Etudes Égyptologiques" in which he gave a translation and commentary of the

hieratic Hieratic (; grc, ἱερατικά, hieratiká, priestly) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BC until the ris ...

text on the

verso ' is the "right" or "front" side and ''verso'' is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a leaf of paper () in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet. Etymology The terms are shortened from Latin ...

of Papyrus Leiden I 348. This book proved his erudition in Egyptology. The subject of this text is a collection of spells against various diseases. The 'Etudes' begins with a translation and commentary of a text on the verso of Papyrus I 348, which is now preserved in the

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden The (English: National Museum of Antiquities) is the national archaeological museum of the Netherlands, located in Leiden. It grew out of the collection of Leiden University and still closely co-operates with its Faculty of Archaeology. The ...

. He also commented on the ''

Book of the Dead The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, 𓂋𓏤𓈒𓈒𓈒𓏌𓏤𓉐𓂋𓏏𓂻𓅓𓉔𓂋𓅱𓇳𓏤, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ...

'', number 125, comparing 40

papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a d ...

from Leiden and Paris. Pleyte also studied the papyri in the

Museo Egizio The Museo Egizio (Italian language, Italian for Egyptian Museum) is an archaeological museum in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, specializing in Art of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian archaeology and anthropology. It houses List of museums of Egyptian antiquitie ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

. Between 1869 and 1876, he and museum curator published ''Papyrus de Turin'', making a part of the large papyri collection of the Regio Museo di Antichita di Torino available to others. In his last major work ''Chapitres supplémentaires du Livre des Morts 162–174'' (1881–1882), he translated and analyzed different parts of the ''Book of the Dead''. The discovery that the Leiden and london papyri originally formed one manuscript is attributed to Pleyte, as he recognized the handwriting to be the same. The work was published however, by Professor Hess from

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

in 1892. Starting in 1869, Pleyte applied for the curator position at the "archaeological cabinet" (

); earlier he had been invited only as a volunteer. Even though there was opposition from the Director

Conradus Leemans Conradus Leemans (24 April 1809 – 14 October 1893) was a Dutch Egyptologist. Early life Conradus Leemans was born in 1809 in Zalt-Bommel, Netherlands, and was the eldest son of physician Dr. Willem Leemans and Hillegonda Rachel Ganderheijden. H ...

, Pleyte appointment as conservator was approved by the Minister on 11 January 1869 and he took charge on 1 February 1869. Before his appointment as curator, he had visited the Museum at

where he found that a large number of hieratic papyri were organized scientifically. On his return from Turin, he made a proposal to Rossi, the curator of the Museum to organize the papyri in a scientific way in the museum where he worked. Pleyte was not put in charge of the Egyptian section, rather he was given the Classic and Dutch sections. After Leemans retired in 1891, Pleyte became the director of the RMO, where he made many improvements. He reorganized the drawings, he created space to study, and he made a significant expansion to the library. Not long after his appointment as director, Pleyte began to suffer from

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...

and his wife who had a great influence on his life died in 1895. In January 1903, he resigned. Only a few weeks later, on March 11, he died at the age 66. Pleyte was the father of the

Indologist Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is o ...

and museum curator,

Cornelis Marinus Pleyte Cornelis Marinus Pleyte (usually, C.M. Pleyte) (24 June 1863 in Leiden – 22 July 1917 in Batavia) was a Dutch museum curator, Dutch East Indies subject-matter expert, teacher, and author. He was notable for his classification work on neolithic In ...

. They both served on the board of

Brill Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

Honours

In March 1871, the Italian government honoured him with the Order of the Crown of Italy. In 1875, the Senate of the Leyden University promoted him as Doctor Honoris causa in Literature. In 1882, he was appointed as a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

. On 31 August 1898, he was decorated with the

Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

. He was a member of several national and international societies. As one of the leading specialists in hieratic of his time, a portrait bust of Willem Pleyte was included in the funerary monument for

Auguste Mariette François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 182118 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Early ...

in the garden of the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...

in Cairo.

Family life

Pleyte married Catharina Margaretha Templeman van Hoeven (23 August 1839 – 15 March 1895) on 8 August 1862. The couple had ten children, six of whom reached adulthood. Notable are

Thomas Bastiaan Pleyte Thomas Bastiaan Pleyte (23 October 1864 in Leiden – 25 March 1926 in The Hague) was a Dutch politician. Pleyte was Minister of the Colonies in the cabinet of Pieter Cort van der Linden. He became known as a liberal minister who founded the ...

(23 October 1864 – 25 March 1926; lawyer and politician) and

(24 June 1863 – 22 July 1917;

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

and museum curator).

Selected works

* 1862: ''La religion des Pré-Israélites. Recherches sur le dieu Seth'', dissertation Leiden University. Revised edition published in 1865 by Hooiberg et Fils, Leiden. * 1865: ''Catalogue raisonnée de types égyptiens hiératiques de la fonderie de N. Tetterode à Amsterdam'', Leiden: E.J. Brill. * 1866: ''Études Égyptologiques I: Étude sur un rouleau magique du musée de Leide'', Leiden: E.J. Brill. * 1868
''Les Papyrus Rollin, de la Bibliothèque Impériale de Paris''
Leiden: E.J. Brill. * 1869-1876 (with ): ''Papyrus de Turin'', 2 vols., Leiden: E.J. Brill. * 1874 (with ; ): ''Leiden vóór 300 jaren en thans. Photolithographische afbeelding van een platte-grond van 1578, en chromolithographische afbeelding van het chaertbouc van straten binnen deser Stadt Leyden'', Leiden: E.J. Brill. * 1877-1903: ''Nederlandsche oudheden van de vroegste tijden tot op Karel den Groote. Afbeeldingen naar de oorspronkelijke voorwerpen of naar photographiën met begeleidende tekst en oudheidkundige kaart''
I: ''Tekst''II: ''Platen''
II:''Carte archéologique de la Néerlande. Oudheidkundige kaart van Nederland'', Leiden: E.J. Brill. * 1879: ''Études Égyptologiques III: L'épistolographie égyptienne'', Leiden (unfinished). * 1879 (with ): ''Catalogus van het Stedelijk Museum te Leiden'', Leiden. * 1881: ''Chapitres supplémentaires du Livre des morts 162 à 174 publiés d'après les Monuments de Leide, du Louvre et du Musée Britannique'', Leiden: E.J. Brill.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pleyte, Willem 1836 births 1903 deaths Dutch Egyptologists Directors of museums in Rotterdam Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Hillegom