Edwin Smith (Egyptologist)
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Edwin Smith (1822-04-27–1906) was an American dealer and collector of antiquities who gave his name to an ancient Egyptian medical papyrus, the Edwin Smith Papyrus.
Edwin Smith was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut,[1][2] and lived in Egypt during the latter half of the 19th century. In 1862 he came temporarily into possession of a medical papyrus which was sold by its Egyptian owner to Georg Ebers in 1873 and published by Ebers in 1875.[3]. It was thus best known as the Ebers Papyrus.
In 1862 he also purchased the papyrus which came to bear his name, from a dealer called Mustapha Aga at Luxor.[4] Smith's knowledge of hieratic was not sufficient to enable him to translate the papyrus, a task which was undertaken by James Henry Breasted, aided by Dr. Arno B. Luckhardt, a professor of physiology, and led to the publication of the translation in 1930.
Edwin Smith died in 1906.
[edit] References
- Marshall Clagett, Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book
- James Henry Breasted (Editor) The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus: Hieroglyphic Transliteration, Translation and Commentary, 1922, New-York Historical Society
