William C. Hayes

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William Christopher Hayes
Born(1903-03-21)March 21, 1903
DiedJuly 10, 1963(1963-07-10) (aged 60)
OccupationEgyptology
Known forThe Scepter of Egypt

William Christopher Hayes (March 21, 1903 – July 10, 1963) was an American Egyptologist.[1] His main fields of study were history of Egyptian art and translation/interpretation of texts.[2]

Biography[edit]

His father William C. Hayes Sr. was a British national and his mother Helen Hawthorne Maule was from Philadelphia and both parents were passionate about horses.[3] Bill initially went to William Penn Charter School(then known as Penn Charter) and then went to the prep school st george's for 4 years, where he won the "George Gordon King medal" in advanced greek.[3] A pupil of Sir Alan Gardiner, Hayes attended the Princeton University(in 1920) where he graduated in 1935 with a dissertation on the royal sarcophagi of the 18th Dynasty. For most of his life he was involved with the Metropolitan Museum of Art: first as a member of the museum's Egyptian Expedition (since 1926), then as an assistant curator (1936) and later as curator of the museum's Egyptian Department, from 1952 until his death[2] occurred on July 10, 1963.[1]
In 1956, he was involved as a consultant in the production of the film The Ten Commandments.[4] His best-known work, The Scepter of Egypt, is still considered by many Egyptologists as one of the standard works in their field.[2][4]

Significant works[edit]

  • 1961–1962. Chronology: Egypt – To End Of The Twentieth Dynasty. In The Cambridge Ancient History
  • 1956. Most ancient Egypt. University of Chicago Press (as editor)
  • 1953–1959. The Scepter of Egypt, a Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. part I, New York 1953; part II, New York 1959
  • 1942. Daily life in Ancient Egypt. National Geographic Society
  • 1935. Royal Sarcophagi of the XVIII Dynasty (dissertation)

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "William C. Hayes, Museum Curator. Egyptian Art Chief at the Metropolitan Is Dead". New York Times. July 11, 1963. Retrieved 2014-07-27. Dr. William C. Hayes, curator of Egyptian art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, died yesterday at his home, 31 East 12th Street. He was 60 years old. ...
  2. ^ a b c W. C. Hayes, The Scepter of Egypt, part II, 4th printing, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Abrams, inc., New York, 1990, ISBN 0-87099-191-4, (back cover).
  3. ^ a b Dunham, Dows; Fischer, Henry G. (1963). "William Christopher Hayes". Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. 2. American Research Center in Egypt: 7–14. JSTOR 40000968.
  4. ^ a b M. L. Bierbrier (1995). Who was Who in Egyptology 3rd ed. London. pp. 195–196 of 256. ISBN 9780856981258.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)