Nicholas Millet
Encyclopedia
Dr. Nicholas Byram Millet (June 28, 1934, Richmond
, New Hampshire
- 2004) was an Egyptologist affiliated with the Royal Ontario Museum
and the University of Toronto
. An archaeologist, art historian, linguist, museum curator, administrator, and celebrated teacher, Millet was able to make great strides in the daunting task of translating the lost language of the ancient Sudan
, Meroitic
. His careful study of the unusual script led to the decipherment of a number of Meroitic words, phrases, and verb formations, and helped shed some light on the social and political constructs of this mysterious civilization. No one else has approached his level of contribution to knowledge of this important ancient African empire. Millet's final word on the Meroitic language was published posthumously in "The Meroitic Inscriptions from Gebel Adda", The Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities in 2005.
Millet also excavated in Nubia
during the Aswan Dam
salvage campaign of the 1960s, where he served as director of the Gebel Adda Expedition for the American Research Center in Egypt. In Egypt he worked at a number of sites, including, in the 1990s, Illahun, which is in the Fayoum district of Egypt — a site first excavated by Sir William Flinders Petrie in the late 19th century.
Millet spearheaded a mummy autopsy in 1977. In 1978, working with Dr. Peter Lewin at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, he carried out the world’s first computed tomographic (CT) scan of a mummy, one that had been in the ROM’s collection since 1910. (Millet had previously published a discussion of the decorative scheme on the casing of the mummy that was scanned: "An old mortality", Rotunda, Vol. 5, no. 2, Spring 1972, which was later reprinted, with annotation by R. Shaw and G. Gibson in Rotunda. Vol. 38, no.2, Winter 2004/2005, p. 14-21.) Since then such studies have exploded, remaining a topic of great interest to both professional researchers and the general public.
Millet's research and publications were also impressive and included work on the rediscovery of one of the Punt reliefs of the temple of Hatshepsut
at Deir el-Bahri
, the authoritative entry on scarabs in the 1968 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica
, a series of excavation reports and a great number of studies on a wide array of Egyptological topics.
Born June 28, 1934 at Richmond, New Hampshire, he received most of his early education abroad, as his father served in the American Diplomatic Corps. After completing his B.A. and his master's at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
in 1959, he spent three years as director of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), in Cairo. He returned to the United States to complete his Ph.D. at Yale University. In 1968 he became assistant professor of Egyptology at Harvard. He then moved to Canada to the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, in 1970 where he was appointed associate curator and later full curator in the Egyptian Department, as well as associate professor of Egyptology in the Department of Near Eastern Studies of the University of Toronto.
Millet bequeathed his Egyptological library to Emory University’s Robert W. Woodruff Library.
Richmond, New Hampshire
Richmond is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,155 at the 2010 census.-History:The town was first chartered in 1735 by Governor Jonathan Belcher of Massachusetts...
, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
- 2004) was an Egyptologist affiliated with the Royal Ontario Museum
Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum is a museum of world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With its main entrance facing Bloor Street in Downtown Toronto, the museum is situated north of Queen's Park and east of Philosopher's Walk in the University of Toronto...
and the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
. An archaeologist, art historian, linguist, museum curator, administrator, and celebrated teacher, Millet was able to make great strides in the daunting task of translating the lost language of the ancient Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, Meroitic
Meroitic
Meroitic is an adjective referring to things related to the kingdom of Meroë in pre-Islamic Sudan.* The Meroitic period was approximately 300 BC to 400 AD.* The Meroitic script was their writing system....
. His careful study of the unusual script led to the decipherment of a number of Meroitic words, phrases, and verb formations, and helped shed some light on the social and political constructs of this mysterious civilization. No one else has approached his level of contribution to knowledge of this important ancient African empire. Millet's final word on the Meroitic language was published posthumously in "The Meroitic Inscriptions from Gebel Adda", The Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities in 2005.
Millet also excavated in Nubia
Nubia
Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...
during the Aswan Dam
Aswan Dam
The Aswan Dam is an embankment dam situated across the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt. Since the 1950s, the name commonly refers to the High Dam, which is larger and newer than the Aswan Low Dam, which was first completed in 1902...
salvage campaign of the 1960s, where he served as director of the Gebel Adda Expedition for the American Research Center in Egypt. In Egypt he worked at a number of sites, including, in the 1990s, Illahun, which is in the Fayoum district of Egypt — a site first excavated by Sir William Flinders Petrie in the late 19th century.
Millet spearheaded a mummy autopsy in 1977. In 1978, working with Dr. Peter Lewin at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, he carried out the world’s first computed tomographic (CT) scan of a mummy, one that had been in the ROM’s collection since 1910. (Millet had previously published a discussion of the decorative scheme on the casing of the mummy that was scanned: "An old mortality", Rotunda, Vol. 5, no. 2, Spring 1972, which was later reprinted, with annotation by R. Shaw and G. Gibson in Rotunda. Vol. 38, no.2, Winter 2004/2005, p. 14-21.) Since then such studies have exploded, remaining a topic of great interest to both professional researchers and the general public.
Millet's research and publications were also impressive and included work on the rediscovery of one of the Punt reliefs of the temple of Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut also Hatchepsut; meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies;1508–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt...
at Deir el-Bahri
Deir el-Bahri
Deir el-Bahari or Deir el-Bahri is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt....
, the authoritative entry on scarabs in the 1968 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
, a series of excavation reports and a great number of studies on a wide array of Egyptological topics.
Born June 28, 1934 at Richmond, New Hampshire, he received most of his early education abroad, as his father served in the American Diplomatic Corps. After completing his B.A. and his master's at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1959, he spent three years as director of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), in Cairo. He returned to the United States to complete his Ph.D. at Yale University. In 1968 he became assistant professor of Egyptology at Harvard. He then moved to Canada to the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, in 1970 where he was appointed associate curator and later full curator in the Egyptian Department, as well as associate professor of Egyptology in the Department of Near Eastern Studies of the University of Toronto.
Millet bequeathed his Egyptological library to Emory University’s Robert W. Woodruff Library.