This page is composed as a tribute to Professor Jaroslav Černý (1898-1970), a Czech Egyptologist,
who devoted most of his life to the study of the Deir el-Medina community. Few scholars can hope
to have such a deep impact on their subject as Jaroslav Černý had on Egyptology. He was the
world’s leading authority on several aspects of the Ramesside period (1295-1069 BC), especially
the hieratic script, a cursive form of writing used on papyri and ostraka. He was an unrivalled
master of Late Egyptian, the language used in Ramesside literary as well as non-literary texts.
Through the depth of his understanding of the way in which the ordinary people in ancient Egypt
conducted their affairs, he brought the past to life.
Jaroslav Černý was born on August 22nd 1898 in Pilsen, Bohemia. After graduation from high school in
Pilsen, where he had already showed a keen interest in ancient history, he became a student at the
Faculty of Arts of Charles University. Initially he studied under Bedřich Hrozný, the founder of the
Hittite studies and then in 1919, when František Lexa became Assistant Professor at the same
faculty, he attended his Egyptological lectures.
At this time he also frequently travelled to Berlin to read specialized literature not accessible in
Prague. While there, he met Professor Georg A. Erman, who inspired his passion for the study of
late Egyptian language.
During his doctoral studies, Černý worked as a bank clerk. The topic of his thesis was the life of the
workmen of the Theban Necropolis in the New Kingdom (1300-100 BC). He often travelled to the
Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, where he could research objects originating from excavations at Deir
el-Medina which were conducted under the leadership of Ernesto Schiaparelli. During his stays in
Turin, Černý became acquainted with many Egyptologists of the time.
In 1925 Bernard Bruyère from the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo was looking for
an epigrapher for his excavations at Deir el-Medina. Černý became a member of the team. In 1927
he published his study about the cult of Amenhotep I at Deir el-Medina. Between 1928-1933 he
worked on the catalogue of hieratic ostraka in the collections of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Černý’s real academic career began as late as 1929, when he was nominated privatdocent at the
Faculty in Prague. The Faculty employed him in an administrative position, which had the advantage of
being limited to six months a year, allowing him to dedicate the other half of the year to his work in
Egypt. He lectured at the University in Prague from 1930 until the outbreak of the World War II,
at which time he happened to be in Paris.
Černý wanted to be immediately conscripted into the French army, but was refused due to his
impaired eye sight. After overcoming a great number of problems, he reached Egypt, where he took
part in another excavation season at Deir el-Medina. In 1940 Černý began to work for the
Czechoslovak government in exile as an attache at its embassy in Cairo.
World War II significantly changed Černý’s life, which until its outbreak was equally divided between
his work in Egypt, Prague and England (where he worked with Alan Gardiner). Until that time his work
concentrated on sources and history of the New Kingdom. During the war however he collected Old
Kingdom inscriptions in Saqarra, compiled a corpus of early dynastic inscriptions, and for
lexicographical reasons he studied Coptic language. Fear for his family and friends back home and the
direct threat of German attacks in Egypt caused him to have a nervous breakdown. During his
convalescence at Helwan he began to collect material for his study of the grammar of late Egyptian
language. At the end of 1943 he went to London to work for the embassy. He stayed in London until
the end of the war. During this time he worked closely with Alan Gardiner. After the war Černý
temporarily returned to lecture at the University in Prague, where Lexa suggested he should be
appointed Professor. The suggestion was refused by the Ministry of Education, which argued that for
such a small discipline as Egyptology there was no need for two professors.
However, on basis of Gardiner’s recommendation, UCL offered Černý a post of Professor of
Egyptology, and so he returned to London. The new post gave him security and enabled him to spend a
third of the year in Egypt. In London he worked on translations and inscriptions from Sinai, the
collation of which he already began before the war. He also started work on a book of Egyptian
religion. The new politics of post-war Czechoslovakia deprived him of his Czechoslovak citizenship and
membership of the Czechoslovak Academy of Scientists and denied him a chance to visit family and
friends living there. Although it was possible for him to acquire the British citizenship he decided to
remain without any official citizenship.
In 1950 Černý experienced a second nervous breakdown, which required a long-term hospitalization.
Having recovered in 1951 he received the offer of a position at the Queen’s College at Oxford and
shortly before moving there married Marie Sargant, born Hloušková, who loved him and cared for him
for the rest of his life. Černý headed the Oxford office for 14 years until he retired in 1965. Even
then Černý continued to travel to Egypt. He actively participated in the UNESCO project to rescue
the monuments of Nubia and he copied texts in the temples of Amada, Gebel esh-Shem and Abu
Simbel. He spent four winters in the Theban necropolis. With his Egyptian colleagues he made a
detailed map of the occurrence of hieratic graffiti. In 1965 he was partially rehabilitated by his
mother country, when elected honorary member of the Czechoslovak Institute of Egyptology, which he
personally accepted during his visit in 1967. In the last years of his life Černý had to forsake field
work due to his increasingly bad eye sight and decided to concentrate on teaching. Between 1965 and
1966 he was visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania and in 1967 at the University of
Tubingen. Jaroslav Černý died on the 29th of May 1970 at Oxford on the way to the Griffith
Institute. The second volume of his monograph about the workmen of the Theban necropolis
unfortunately remained unfinished.
| Jaroslav Černý |
apels
| This page is composed as a tribute to Professor Jaroslav Černý (1898-1970), a Czech Egyptologist, who devoted most of his life to the study of the Deir el-Medina community. Few scholars can hope to have such a deep impact on their subject as Jaroslav Černý had on Egyptology. He was the world’s leading authority on several aspects of the Ramesside period (1295-1069 BC), especially the hieratic script, a cursive form of writing used on papyri and ostraka. He was an unrivalled master of Late Egyptian, the language used in Ramesside literary as well as non-literary texts. Through the depth of his understanding of the way in which the ordinary people in ancient Egypt conducted their affairs, he brought the past to life. |
| Jaroslav Černý was born on August 22nd 1898 in Pilsen, Bohemia. After graduation from high school in Pilsen, where he had already showed a keen interest in ancient history, he became a student at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. Initially he studied under Bedřich Hrozný, the founder of the Hittite studies and then in 1919, when František Lexa became Assistant Professor at the same faculty, he attended his Egyptological lectures. At this time he also frequently travelled to Berlin to read specialized literature not accessible in Prague. While there, he met Professor Georg A. Erman, who inspired his passion for the study of late Egyptian language. During his doctoral studies, Černý worked as a bank clerk. The topic of his thesis was the life of the workmen of the Theban Necropolis in the New Kingdom (1300-100 BC). He often travelled to the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, where he could research objects originating from excavations at Deir el-Medina which were conducted under the leadership of Ernesto Schiaparelli. During his stays in Turin, Černý became acquainted with many Egyptologists of the time. In 1925 Bernard Bruyère from the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo was looking for an epigrapher for his excavations at Deir el-Medina. Černý became a member of the team. In 1927 he published his study about the cult of Amenhotep I at Deir el-Medina. Between 1928-1933 he worked on the catalogue of hieratic ostraka in the collections of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Černý’s real academic career began as late as 1929, when he was nominated privatdocent at the Faculty in Prague. The Faculty employed him in an administrative position, which had the advantage of being limited to six months a year, allowing him to dedicate the other half of the year to his work in Egypt. He lectured at the University in Prague from 1930 until the outbreak of the World War II, at which time he happened to be in Paris. |
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“Deir el-Medina is the name of the valley extending approximately from south to north and bordered up to the east by a hill called Qurnet Murai, at its eastern slope extends the village of the same name, and to the west by the mountains that we have already seen from Luxor and that reach far into Libyan desert, which is part of the Sahara. A pathway runs at the bottom of the valley and to the left of the path on the hill slope is the cemetery of Deir el-Medina, our workplace. Deir el-Medina is an Arabic name and it means “city monastery”. The “Monastery” is the temple dated to the Ptolemaic period located at the northern edge at the exit from the valley. The word “city” is connected to the city of Djeme, nowadays called Medinet Habu, the ruins of which come from the 10th century and lie within about 15 to 20 minutes’ walking distance along the temple of Ramesse III. At the foot of the hill we alight from the donkeys, let them go, and ascend the path to the house, which will henceforth be our home. It is located almost at the highest point of the hill, so that the climb to it is, above all in the heat of the day, not exactly alluring. It has, however, the advantage that the entire necropolis and to the north and south, also the entire Nile valley, can be easily overlooked from here. The view to Luxor is blocked by the opposite hill Qurnet Murai.The entire hill descends in several terraces and the house is standing on the highest of them. Its oldest part, consisting of only three rooms, two living rooms and a kitchen, was built by Schiaparelli, leader of the Italian expedition, in 1904. The house now belongs to the Antiquities Service, which lent it to the French Institute together with the concession. The director of the French excavations Monsieur Bruyère later extended it to the north and south, so that it now has 8 living rooms. It is built out of mud bricks, the usual building material in Egypt. The roof is made of logs covered with paper on which sand and stones are scattered. In Upper Egypt such building material can be used, as there is almost no rainfall. I remember only once that it rained about 5 minutes, but the raindrops dried the moment they touched the land… …The old part of the house is built into a former grave; the middle, smallest room, which is mine and
The day, when the workers are hired, all hell breaks loose in the morning. On hiring day, several …Immediately after the hiring is over, the work begins. The workers stand in a row on a place that the …To transport away the debris, we use the field railroad of the Decauville system, which has two I do not have to stress the fact that dust is being churned up during the work, because the earth …At the bottom of the valley lay the village of the royal workmen, the remains of which have been ..We use our free time in the evening and on Tuesdays to visit and study the surrounding monuments, .Trips up to the hills are much more time-demanding, above all the ascent to the highest point ..We perform a special sport in the surrounding hills – the searching for graffiti, i.e. engraved rock .This year, excavations at Deir el-Medina began unusually early, already in the second half of |
