James Henry Breasted (August 27, 1865–December 2, 1935) was born in Rockford, Illinois and was an archaeologist and historian. He was educated at the Chicago Theological Seminary, Yale University (MA 1891) and the University of Berlin (PhD 1894). He was the first American citizen to obtain a PhD in Egyptology. Breasted was in the forefront of the generation of archeologist-historians who broadened the idea of "Western Civilization" to include the entire "Near East" in Europe's cultural roots. August 27 is the 239th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (240th in leap years), with 126 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1865 is a common year starting on Sunday. ... Jump to: navigation, search December 2 is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1935 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Rockford is a city located in Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 150,115. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... A historian is a person who studies history. ... Chicago Theological Seminary is an ecumenical seminary of the United Church of Christ. ... Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Yale (disambiguation). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1891 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... There is no institution called the University of Berlin, but there are four universities in Berlin, Germany: Humboldt University of Berlin (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) Technical University of Berlin (Technische Universität Berlin) Free University of Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin) Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der Künste Berlin) This is... 1894 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Egyptologys a regional and thematic division Of the discipline of archeologist And ancient historian; whose broader visions less regional and thematic than the Egyptologist. ...

He became an instructor at the University of Chicago in 1894 and was appointed Professor of Egyptology and Oriental History at in 1905 (the first such chair in the United States). In 1901, he was appointed director of the Haskell Oriental Museum, forerunner of the Oriental Institute, which had opened at the University of Chicago in 1896. Though the Haskell Oriental Museum contained works of art from both the Near East and the Far East, his principal interest was in Egypt; he began to work on a compilation of all the extant hieroglyphic inscriptions, which was published in 1907 as Ancient Records of Egypt, which remains an important collection of translated texts; as Peter A. Piccione wrote in the preface to its 2001 reprint, it "still contains certain texts and inscriptions that have not been retranslated since that time." The University of Chicago is a private co-educational university located in Chicago, Illinois. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1905 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search lilcitty cat go fat fat fatgraph]]ic, syllabic, and alphabetic elements. ... 1907 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1919, funding was obtained from John D. Rockefeller for the Oriental Institute of Chicago, under whose auspices Breasted headed the University’s first archaeological survey of Egypt. In 1923 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He died in 1935 from pneumonia, while returning from a trip to Egypt. He is buried in Greenwood cemetery, Rockford, Illinois. 1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1917 painting by John Singer Sargent. ... The Oriental Institute (OI) is the University of Chicagos archeology museum and research center for ancient Near Eastern studies. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. ... Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs. ... Rockford is a city located in Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 150,115. ...

Breasted is now perhaps most widely known for his coinage of the term "the Fertile Crescent" to describe the area from Egypt to Mesopotamia. The Fertile Crescent is a region in the Middle East incorporating present-day Israel, West Bank, and Lebanon and parts of Jordan, Syria, Iraq and south-eastern Turkey. ...

Works

• A History of Egypt 1905
• Ancient Records of Egypt 1907 (reprinted 2001)
• Outlines of European History 1914
• Ancient Times 1916
• Oriental Forerunners of Byzantine Painting 1924
• The Conquest of Civilization 1926
• The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus 1930
• The Dawn of Conscience 1933

Further reading

• Charles Breasted, Pioneer ot the Past: The Story of James H. Breasted (New York: Charles Scribner's Son, 1943.)