Person

Lefebvre, Gustave Désiré Louis

1879-1957

French Egyptologist; born 17 July 1879 at Bar-le-Duc (Meuse), Lorraine, son of Constantin Désiré Louis L. and Marie Longeaux; he studied at the Faculté des Lettres, Paris, 1879-1900, and was also a pupil at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, 1899-1901; he was a member of the French School at Athens, 1901-4; he worked in Egypt, 1902-4; he became Professor at the Lycée de Valenciennes 1904; he was appointed Inspector for Middle Egypt in the Egyptian Antiquities Service, 1905-14; in war service 1915-19; Assistant Keeper, 1919 then Keeper, Cairo Museum, 1926-28; Director of Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études Section IV, Chair of Egyptian Philology, 1928-48, Docteur-ès-lettres, Faculté des Lettres, Paris, 1929; Maspero Prize, 1942; member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1942; Paul Pelliot Prize, 1956; an authority on Egyptian philology Lefebvre received a classical background to his education at the Sorbonne; with Pierre Jouguet he studied Greek papyri found in the Nile valley and assisted in excavations at Medinet Madi in the Fayum, 1902, at Medinet Nahas (Magdola), El Majabda (the burial place of mummified crocodiles), and at Tihna, 1903-4; he was invited by Gaston Maspero to join the Antiquities Service and after studying hieroglyphs, he began the publication of Egyptian texts from 1907; he was also an officer of the Order of the Nile and of the Légion d'honneur; his published work numbered 155 items, see especially Papyrus de Magdôla, with P. Jouguet, 1902-3; Inscriptions grecques de Tehneh, 1903; Une chapelle de Ramsès II a Abydos, 1906; Fragments d'un manuscrit de Ménandre, 1907; Recueil des inscriptions grecques chrétiennes d'Égypte, 1907; Les Graffites grecs du Memnonion d'Abydos, 1919; Le tombeau de Pétosiris, 3 vols. 1923-4, following the clearance of this tomb at Tuna el-Gebel; Histoire des grands prêtres d'Amon de Karnak, 1929; Inscriptions concernant les grands prêtres d'Amon Romê-Roÿ et Amenhotep, 1929; Grammaire de l'Égyptien classique, 1940, for many years one of the three standard works used for teaching students, with those of Gardiner and de Buck; Romans et conies égyptiens de l'époque pharaonique, 1948; Inscription dédicatoire de la chapelle funéraire de Ramsès I a Abydos, 1951; Tableau des parties du corps humain mentionnées par les Égyptiens, 1952; Essai sur la médecine égyptienne de l'époque pharaonique, 1956; he died in Versailles, 1 November 1957.

• Who Was Who in Egyptology (5th ed. 2019), 272 fig. (portrait).