MASPERO, ma'spc-r8'. GASTON CAMILLE CHARLES ( 1846— ). A distinguished French Egyptologist. He was born at Paris. lune 23. 1846, and received his early education at the Lyci.e Louis he Grand. At the age of fourteen years he studied the Egyptian language privately. and in 1865. when lie entered the Ecole Nor vale, he had attained a high degree of proficiency in the interpretation of hieroglyphic texts. Two years later lie published. with time approval of Mariette, his Essai l'inseription dedicatoirc du temple d'rtbydos it la jeunessc de Sesostris. In 1867 he went to Montevideo to coiipe•ate with Vicente Fidel Lopez in his studies on the Indian dialects of Peru, translating into French and editing Lopez's work, Les races aryennes de Th'rou. On his return to Paris, a year later, he resumed his Egyptological studies, and in 1869 he read before the Acadihnie des Inscriptions a memoir on the Abbott Papyrus. containing an offieial report in regard to the tomb robberies in the Theban necrop olis under Rameses IX. This memoir, under the title TTne judieiaire n TlrOws an temps de la X_Veme dynastic, was published at Paris in 1871. In 1869 Maspe•o became in the department of Egyptology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, and three years later he passed the ex amination for the degree of doctor. presenting, two theses.: De Carehemidis Oppidi Situ et Historic Antiquissima and Du genre epistolairc chcz Ics Egyptiens de repoque pharaonique. In 1874 he was appointed professor of Egyptology in the Col lege de France as the successor of E. de Rouge. In 1575 was published his L'llisloirc onciennu des pcuples de l'Oricnt, which was the first attempt to present, from monumental sources, the history of the ancient East as a whole, and to exhibit the relations existing in antiquity between the peoples of Western Asia and the Nile Valley. In the course of the next live years .Alaspero wrote a number of valuable memoirs on Egyptian philology. history, and archailogy, the most im portant being: "De quelques navigations des Egyptiens stir la mer Erythree" (Revue ilis torique, 1878) : "La grande inscription de Beni Hassan" (Recucil de Trat•aux, 1875) ; "Reeit de Ia eampagne de Alageddo sous Thoutmes III." (Recucil de Travaux, 1879-80). lie received the decoration of the Legion of Donor in 1879, and in 1882 was made an officer of the Legion. In 1880 he was sent by the Freneh Government to Egypt at the head of the ,Mission Archeologique, which, under his skillful management, developed into a school for the prosecution of advanced studies in Egyptology and kindred subjects. On
the death of Mariette in 1881, Maspero was ap pointed his successor as director of the excava tions and antiquities of Egypt. His excavations, tl gh less extensive than those of his cessor, were more methodical, and he is entitled to special credit for his successful efforts for the preservation and protection of the monuments of Egypt. In 1853 he became a member of the Academie des Inscriptions et lielles-Lettres. In June, 1856, leaving Grfbaut as his successor in Egypt, he returned to Paris and resumed his chair at the College de France. assuming at the same time the direction of Egyptologieal studies in the Eeole des Hantes Etudes. In 1899 he re turned to Egypt to resume the position which he had resigned in 15811. Maspero's works are very numerous. In addition to those already mentioned, some of the most important are: lymne (1S6S) ; Etudes r'qgpticnn•s 91) ; Les conics papalair•cs de l'Egypte aneirpinc (1882, 2d ed. 1590) : enwire sue quelques papyrus du Lourre ( 1883) ; l,'t:r•eizr'o1ogic f`gyp tienne (1887: Eng. trans. by Amelia B. Edwards, New York. 1S57): Les movies royales Jr Defr eldtahari (Paris, 1SS9) ; Lectures historiques: Egyple et .1 ssyrie ( 1590 ) : Eludes de mythologic et d'arelu'ologie eqyptiennes (1592-95). Maspero's llistoirr ancien»r des pruples de l'Orient has been frequently rei:dited. III the edition of 189I 99 the author treats the whole range of ancient. Oriental history in three profusely illustrated volumes. English translations. edited by Sayee, are entitled: The Desert of Civilization: Egypt and Chaldwa (2d ed. 1896); The Strug gle of the \•ulions: Egypt, Syria, anti .Issyr•ia (New York. 1897) : and The Passing of the Em pires S.50-330 (New York. 1000). Maspero edited several posthumous works of Marlette. as also the valualde lh'smires de Ia mission fran false an rain" (Park. IRS4 et seq.), and in 1479 assumed the editorial direction of the krerseil (Jr trap-aux relatifs d la philcdrwie et rarrhe'ologir ( Pa ris, 1870 et seq.). it was in this journal (vole. i.
xiv.) that he published the text and translation of the inscriptions engraved upon the walls of the pyramids of the fifth and sixth dynasties at Saq Tint ('l.v.). Ile has also published a large number of valuable papers in various scientific journals. See also EGYPTOLOGY.