Selim Hassan


Selim Hassan was an Egyptian Egyptologist. He wrote the 16-volume Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt in Arabic and supervised the excavation of many ancient Egyptian tombs under the auspices of Cairo University. He studied under Kamal at the Higher Teachers College in Cairo and began teaching in 1921. He later studied in Paris at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. He was the first native Egyptian to be appointed Professor of Egyptology at the University of Cairo, a post he held from 1936 to 1939. He was then made Deputy-Director of the Antiquities Service. He received a PhD from Vienna in 1935.

Giza

Selim Hassan excavated the Central Field at Giza from 1929 to 1939. He found and recorded many mastabas and discovered several undisturbed tombs. The results of his excavations were published in ten volumes. From about five missions working and excavating the cemeteries at Giza his work is regarded for science the most important one. George Reisner, working at the same cemetery published only little of his results. Hermann Junker, also working at Giza, concentrated in his publication very much on architecture with long chapters better placed in articles on different subjects, but not on his finds. The publications of Selim Hassan concentrates on the find and the archaeology, including the pottery found, often only just mentioned by Junker.

''Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt''

The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt is considered the definitive historical reference for Ancient Egypt. Hassan wrote it in Arabic and worked on it for most of his life. The first volume is entitled "From Prehistory to the End of the Ahnasy Era."

Works