Peter Der Manuelian Named Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology

Cambridge, Mass. May 12, 2010 - Peter Der Manuelian, who leads a project to digitize materials from a complex of tombs, temples, and ancient artifacts surrounding Egypt's famous Giza pyramids, has been named the Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology at Harvard University, effective July 1, 2010. Der Manuelian comes to Harvard from the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, where he is director of the Giza Archives Project and the Giza Mastabas Project, and from Tufts University, where he has been a lecturer in Egyptology since 2000. He joins the faculty of Harvard's departments of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC) and Anthropology. "Professor Der Manuelian has attained broad mastery of ancient Egypt's culture, art, history, and language," says Diana Sorensen, dean of arts and humanities in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "He has written on archaeology, art history, political history, literature, and philology, demonstrating a range few Egyptologists can match. His teaching at Tufts, at Harvard, and at the MFA has proven his excellence in engaging students, and he has shown himself to be a brilliant teacher and mentor." Der Manuelian has led a 10-year effort to digitize extensive materials pertaining to the Old Kingdom Giza Necropolis, a 4,500-year-old array of tombs, temples, and artifacts near Egypt's famous Giza pyramids.