Mariette, Auguste

Born Feb. 11, 1821, in Boulogne; died Jan. 19, 1881, in Cairo. French Egyptologist and archaeologist. Member of the Academy of Inscriptions (1878).

In 1851, during excavations in Egypt, Mariette discovered the temple of the god Serapis in Memphis. From 1854 to 1858 he worked as conservator of the Egyptian collection of the Louvre. In 1858 he returned to Egypt and, upon request of the khedive, founded and headed the Antiquities Service and the Egyptian Museum. Mariette conducted excavations in Tanis, Memphis, Saggara, Medum (Meidum), Abydos, Thebes, and Gebel Barkal, discovering many of the most important inscriptions and monuments of the art and material culture of the ancient Egyptians. Mariette was elevated to the rank of pasha and buried in the courtyard of the Egyptian Museum.