BREASTED, JAMES HENRY. – Egyptologist, born on 27 August 1865 in Rochford (U.S.A.), died on 2 December 1935. From 1905 to 1925 he was professor of Egyptology and Egyptian archaeology in Chicago; there he founded and directed the Oriental Institute. In 1905–1907 he undertook an archaeological expedition to Egypt on behalf of the University of Chicago; from 1919 he directed excavations in Upper Egypt, Asia Minor, and Palestine. Principal publications: Ancient Records of Egypt (3 vols., Chicago 1906; new ed., there 1924); Conquest of Civilization (London 1926); The Edwin Smith surgical papyrus (Chicago 1930).
BIBL.: W. R. Dawson, J. H. B., in Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1936, pp. 179–84. Giustino Boson