Georges Aaron Bénédite (10 August 1857 26 March 1926) was a French Egyptologist and curator at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

. He was born at

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

, the son of Samuel Bénédite and Isabelle Bénédite born Lisbonne, whose second husband Georges Lafenestre, was a noted poet, art critic and curator of the

, who helped raise the young Georges Aaron. Georges Aaron himself became a curator at the Louvre in the Department of Egyptology in 1907. Bénédite is noted for his discovery of the

Tomb of Akhethetep The Tomb of Akhethetep, also known as Mastaba of Akhethetep (), is a tomb complex in Saqqara, Egypt. It was built for Akhethetep, a royal official, near the western part of the Pyramid of Djoser. Akhethetep was an official with several, mainly ...

Saqqara Saqqara ( : saqqāra ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for ...

on 28 March 1903. The chapel of Akhethotep was purchased by the Louvre, in line with Egyptian policy at the time, and relocated to Paris under Bénédite's supervision. Bénédite also excavated several tombs in the

Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings, also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings, is an area in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the Eighteenth Dynasty to the Twentieth Dynasty, rock-cut tombs were excavated for pharaohs and power ...

, such as

KV41 Tomb KV41, located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Pe ...

in 1900. He is one of the first to propose the existence of theater in ancient Egypt. Bénédite is also known for his purchasing of the

Gebel el-Arak Knife The Gebel el-Arak Knife, also Jebel el-Arak Knife, is an ivory and flint knife dating from the Naqada II period of Egyptian prehistory (3500—3200 BC), showing Mesopotamian influence. The knife was purchased in 1914 in Cairo by Georges Aaron ...

for the

from a private antique dealer M. Nahman in Cairo in February 1914. Bénédite immediately recognized the extraordinary state of preservation of the artefact as well as his archaic datation. On 16 March 1914, he writes to Charles Boreux, then head of the ''département des Antiquités égyptiennes'' of the

about the knife an unsuspecting antique dealer presented him: Bénédite died in

Luxor Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt. Luxor had a population of 263,109 in 2020, with an area of approximately and is the capital of the Luxor Governorate. It is among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited c ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, shortly after visiting the tomb of

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun or Tutankhamen, (; ), was an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Born Tutankhaten, he instituted the restoration of the traditional polytheistic form of an ...

, further adding to the legend of the curse of the pharaoh. His body was brought back to France and was buried in the family vault in the cemetery of

Bourg-la-Reine Bourg-la-Reine () is a Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. History In 1792, during the French Revolution, Bourg-la-Reine (meaning "Town of the Queen") w ...

in the

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...

Publications

* ''Égypte'',

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette Livre, a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachette Fil ...

, 1900, in three volumes, comprises 7 maps, 104 plans, 54 illustrations and 22 synoptic tables.

References

External links

Extensive biography, in french
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benedite, Georges French Egyptologists Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres People from Nîmes 1857 births 1926 deaths