Egyptologist

Other forms: Egyptologists

Someone whose work involves studying ancient Egypt is an Egyptologist. If you're fascinated by mummies, pyramids, and hieroglyphs, you might want to be an Egyptologist one day!

Egyptologists research the culture and history of Egypt from approximately 3100 to 332 B.C.E., including Egyptian literature, art, language, architecture, burial practices, and much more. As an Egyptologist, you might teach at a university, go on archaeological digs, or work in the Egyptian wing of a museum. The word is formed by adding -ologist, "scientist," to Egypt, which has a Greek root that means "the river Nile."

Definitions of Egyptologist

1. noun

   an archeologist who specializes in Egyptology
   examples:

   Howard Carter

   Englishman and Egyptologist who in 1922 discovered and excavated the tomb of Tutankhamen (1873-1939)

   Jean Francois Champollion

   Frenchman and Egyptologist who studied the Rosetta Stone and in 1821 became the first person to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics (1790-1832)

   Thomas Young

   British physicist and Egyptologist; he revived the wave theory of light and proposed a three-component theory of color vision; he also played an important role in deciphering the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone (1773-1829)

   type of:

   archaeologist, archeologist

   an anthropologist who studies prehistoric people and their culture