E. A. Wallis Budge was just a young boy when his schoolmaster realized what an exceptional child he was, and that the child had an early start on becoming an Orientalist. Budge was teaching himself to read Hebrew, which was very unusual for an eight year old boy. The headmaster conferred with Charles Seager, who suggested that Budge not only be encouraged in his Hebrew study but that he should add Syriac to his studies. Budge also studied some early cuneiform texts he obtained. He was able to see the actual letters Layard brought back when Seager took Budge to the British Museum. Seager also arranged for Budge to interview Birch, the great Egyptian scholar, who them opened his library to the young boy. Budge took full advantage of the opportunity and read extensively. Seager then consulted with W. E. Gladstone about Budge and it was decided that Cambridge would best suit him. In 1878, Budge not only entered there as a Non-Coll. student but his first publication of a Sennacherib text was published. In 1879, under Dr. Peile, he went to Christ's and was given an exhibition for Hebrew and Assyrian. In 1882, he won the Tyrwhitt Hebrew Scholarship.
When
Budge entered Cambridge, he found the other Orientalists to be a very
conservative group. Budge was not to be dismayed by their criticism of his interest in
the field and started publishing Oriental books, of which he would eventually
publish over one hundred and twenty books on the topic.
His list of works was to become
the longest list by one author in Who's Who. He was Curator of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum from 1894 to 1924.
Along with his post at the
Budge held a strong belief that it if one were to be a proper Orientalist, it was important to live and travel with the societies one wrote about. Not only did he do this, but he strongly encouraged his assistants to do the same. He also encouraged his assistants to publish and was very generous in giving them the time off to do so. Budge is perhaps best known for translating The Egyptian Book of The Dead (also known as The Papyrus of Ani), as well as analyzing many of the practices of Egyptian religion, language and ritual. Of his written works, Budge made the first books oriented toward students of hieroglyphics. They consisted of translated texts and hieroglyphs, as well as a complete dictionary of hieroglyphs. In addition, his published works cover areas of Egyptian culture reaching from Egyptian religion, to Egyptian mythology, and magical practices.
Budge was
married to the daughter of the Rev.
Titus Emerson. They had no children. Budge was knighted in 1920. He had earned
three doctorates, honored with the Dongola medal
and Menelik presented him
with the Star of Ethiopia on account of his Ethiopic History of Alexander.
Sir Wallis Budge died November 23, 1934 in
R. Campbell Thompson said of Budge:
He was an extraordinary personality, and one not common among scholars, and indeed it may be said with assurance that Orientalists rarely combine such an industry in textual work with his capacity to seek adventure.
The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Sep., 1935), pp. 68-70.
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Written by: Students in an Introduction to
Anthropology Class,
Edited by: Lillian Dolentz, 2008