Jaroslav Černý

Czech Egyptologist. He was born in Pilsen, 22 August 1898, son of Antonín Č. and Anna Navrátilová. He was educated at elementary school (1904–1909) and state grammar school (gymnasium) in Pilsen (1909–1917). He studied at Charles University, Prague (1917–1922), matriculated for winter semester 1917–1918, doctoral degree awarded 1922, and completed his studies under Jean P. A. Erman (1854–1937) in Berlin. He was employed as a clerk in the Zivnobanka central branch in Prague (1919–1927).

He was associated with the Institut français d'archéologie orientale (IFAO) from 1925 as visiting scholar, and later a member of the IFAO expedition to Deir el-Medina. He was awarded a scholarship to study hieratic ostraca in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, was sponsored by Tomáš G. Masaryk (1850–1937), Paul Petschek (1886–1946), and the Orientální ústav, Prague, and was Secretary of the Orientální ústav from 1929. He worked with Sir Alan H. Gardiner (1879–1963) on ostraca from different European collections as well as on hieratic papyri, and entered a formal contract with Gardiner from 1934. Lecturer in Egyptology, Charles University, Prague, 1929–1946. He worked in Sinai in the 1930s, resulting in his new edition of Gardiner and Peet, The Inscriptions of Sinai (1955). He excavated at Deir el-Medina (1925–1970), and worked as epigrapher in Abydos with Amice M. Calverley (1896–1959) and Myrtle F. Broome (1888–1978).

He was affiliated to the Czechoslovak legation in Cairo from 1942, and in the diplomatic service of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile (London) until 1945. He was appointed Edwards Professor of Egyptology, University College London, 1946–1951, and Professor of Egyptology, Oxford, 1951–1965 (Emeritus, 1965–1970). He worked in Nubia recording temple inscriptions at Amada, Gebel el-Shems, and Abu Simbel during the UNESCO campaign. He initiated and co-organised topographical and epigraphic mapping on the Theban mountain as part of the UNESCO and Centre of Documentation and Studies on Ancient Egypt campaign. He published extensively in the field of Egyptology including publications on palaeography, the Ramesside period, social history, religion, and late New Kingdom hieratic inscriptions.

In 1951 he married Marie Sargant Hloušková (1899–1991). He died in Oxford, 29 May 1970.