Richard Anthony Parker (December 10, 1905 – June 3, 1993) was a prominent

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 religiou ...

and professor of

Egyptology 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 p ...

. Originally from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, he attended Mt. Carmel High School (then known as St. Cyril) with acclaimed author

James T. Farrell James Thomas Farrell (February 27, 1904 – August 22, 1979) was an American novelist, short-story writer and poet. He is most remembered for the ''Studs Lonigan'' trilogy, which was made into a film in 1960 and a television series in 1979. B ...

. He received an A.B. from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

in 1930, and a Ph.D. in Egyptology from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

in 1938. He then went to

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

to work as an epigrapher with the University of Chicago's Epigraphic and Architectural Survey, studying the mortuary temple of

Ramses III Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great mona ...

. When

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

necessitated a temporary halt to the project, Parker came back to Chicago to teach Egyptology at the university. In 1946, he returned to Egypt to continue his work on the epigraphic survey, and soon rose to the position of field director. In 1948, he founded the Department of Egyptology at Brown University and became its first chairman, and also assumed the newly created position of the Charles Edwin Wilbour Professorship. That year, Parker also began his service as a founding trustee of the American Research Center in Egypt. Parker's primary interests were in ancient science and mathematics. In 1951, he traveled to Egypt to examine monuments linked to ancient astronomy, and in subsequent years studied papyri at

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. His major contributions included significant work in the areas of Egyptian language (including

Demotic Demotic may refer to: * Demotic Greek, the modern vernacular form of the Greek language * Demotic (Egyptian), an ancient Egyptian script and version of the language * Chữ Nôm, the demotic script for writing Vietnamese See also * * Demos (disa ...

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

, and

chronology Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , ''-logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. I ...

. Of particular note was his discovery that two ancient Egyptian calendars were employed simultaneously: a 365-day calendar used for administrative needs, and a lunar calendar used for religious and agricultural purposes. Parker's work in this area continues to influence Egyptological research. In 1971,

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

elected Parker as a corresponding fellow, the highest accolade for scholarship given in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. He was the only American Egyptologist selected for membership in the society. Parker also served on the visiting committees of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

’s department of Middle Eastern Civilizations, and was a member of the department of

Egyptian art Ancient Egyptian art refers to art produced in ancient Egypt between the 6th millennium BC and the 4th century AD, spanning from Prehistoric Egypt until the Christianization of Roman Egypt. It includes paintings, sculpture ...

at the

Boston Museum of Fine Arts The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

. Parker was a devoted fan of Brown University football, and was noted for foregoing trips abroad so as not to miss a home game.Janet Johnson
''In Memoriam: Richard Anthony Parker: 1905-1993'' (1993)
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Publications

* ''Medinet Habu Demotic Ostracon 4038'' (1938) (doctoral dissertation; a revised version was published in Volume XXVI (1940) of the ''

Journal of Egyptian Archaeology The ''Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (JEA)'' is a bi-annual peer-reviewed international academic journal published by the Egypt Exploration Society. Covering Egyptological research, the JEA publishes scholarly articles, fieldwork reports, and r ...

'' under the title ''A Late Demotic Gardening Agreement: Medinet Habu Ostracon 4038'') * ''Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C. - A.D. 45'' (University of Chicago Press, 1942 eprinted 1946 * ''The Calendars of Ancient Egypt, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization'' (University of Chicago Press, 1950) * ''Sothic Dates and Calendar Adjustment'' * ''The Problem of the Month-Names: A Reply'' (1957) * ''Lunar Dates of Thutmose III and Ramesses II'' (Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1957) * ''A Vienna Demotic Papyrus on Eclipse- and Lunar-Omina'' (Brown University Press, 1959) * ''Egyptian Astronomical Texts'' (with O. Neugebauer) (1960) * ''A Saite Oracle Papyrus From Thebes'' (with J. Cerny) (Brown University Press, 1962) * ''Two Demotic Astronomical Papyri in the Carlsberg Collection'' (1962) * ''Egyptian Astronomical Texts, III. Decans, Planets, Constellations and Zodiacs'' (Brown University Press, 1969) * ''The Calendars and Chronology, the Legacy of Egypt'' (1971) * ''Demotic Mathematical Papyri'' (Brown University Press, 1972) * ''Ancient Egyptian Astronomy, the Place of Astronomy in the Ancient World'' (Oxford University Press, 1974) * ''The Edifice of Taharqa by the Sacred Lake of Karnak'' (with Jean Leclant and Jean Claude Goyon) (Brown University Press, 1979) * ''Egyptological Studies in Honor of Richard A. Parker: Presented on the Occasion of His 78th Birthday'' ( Leonard H. Lesko, ed.) (1986)

Notes

External links

* John Larson & Janet Johnson
''In Memoriam: Richard Anthony Parker: 1905-1993'' (1993)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Richard Anthony People from Chicago American Egyptologists Historians of science Dartmouth College alumni University of Chicago alumni University of Chicago faculty Brown University faculty Harvard University people 1905 births 1993 deaths Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy