E. A. Wallis Budge was just a young boy when his schoolmaster realized what an exceptional child he was, and that the child had an early start on becoming an Orientalist. Budge was teaching himself to read Hebrew, which was very unusual for an eight year old boy. The headmaster conferred with Charles Seager, who suggested that Budge not only be encouraged in his Hebrew study but that he should add Syriac to his studies. Budge also studied some early cuneiform texts he obtained. He was able to see the actual letters Layard brought back when Seager took Budge to the British Museum. Seager also arranged for Budge to interview Birch, the great Egyptian scholar, who them opened his library to the young boy. Budge took full advantage of the opportunity and read extensively. Seager then consulted with W. E. Gladstone about Budge and it was decided that Cambridge would best suit him. In 1878, Budge not only entered there as a Non-Coll. student but his first publication of a Sennacherib text was published. In 1879, under Dr. Peile, he went to Christ's and was given an exhibition for Hebrew and Assyrian. In 1882, he won the Tyrwhitt Hebrew Scholarship.
When Budge entered Cambridge, he found other Orientalists to be a very conservative group. Budge was not to be dismayed by their criticism of his interest in the field and started publishing Oriental books, of which he would eventually publish over one hundred and twenty books on the topic. His list of works was to become the longest list by one author in Who's Who. He was Curator of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum from 1894 to 1924. Along with his post at the British Museum, he was a Sometime Scholar of Christ’s College, a scholar at the University of Cambridge, Tyrwhitt, and a Hebrew Scholar. Budge acquired an extensive knowledge of languages besides Assyrian and Hebrew. He studied Egyptian hieroglyphs, continued his interest in Syriac, added Coptic and later published in Ethiopic. Best known for his numerous translator works, Budge collected a large number of Coptic, Greek, Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopian, and Egyptian Papyri manuscripts. He was also involved in numerous archaeology digs in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Sudan. His forays in the East, in search of antiquities, brought countless treasures to the museum.
Budge held a strong belief that if one were to be a proper Orientalist, it was important to live and travel with the societies one wrote about. Not only did he do this, but he strongly encouraged his assistants to do the same. He also encouraged his assistants to publish and was very generous in giving them time off to do so. Budge is perhaps best known for translating The Egyptian Book of the Dead (also known as The Papyrus of Ani), as well as analyzing many of the practices of Egyptian religion, language and ritual. Of his written works, Budge made the first books oriented toward students of hieroglyphics. They consisted of translated texts and hieroglyphs, as well as a complete dictionary of hieroglyphs. In addition, his published works cover areas of Egyptian culture reaching from Egyptian religion, to Egyptian mythology, and magical practices.
Budge was married to the daughter of the Rev. Titus Emerson. They had no children. Budge was knighted in 1920. He had earned three doctorates, honored with the Dongola medal and Menelik presented him with the Star of Ethiopia on account of his Ethiopic History of Alexander. Sir Wallis Budge died November 23, 1934 in London, England. It was stipulated in Budge's will that after his death, a fund was to be set up, in the name of his wife, to support young Egyptologists. The Lady Wallis Budge Junior Research Fellowship and graduate scholarships at Cambridge and Oxford Universities is still supporting students in their studies and research.
R. Campbell Thompson said of Budge:
He was an extraordinary personality, and one not common among scholars, and indeed it may be said with assurance that Orientalists
rarely combine such an industry in textual work with his capacity to seek adventure.
References:
http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/ani.htm, 2007, The Papyrus of Ani ( The Egyptian Book of the Dead)
The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Sept.,1935), pp. 68-70.
www.admin.cam.ac.uk
Written by: Students in an Introduction to Anthropology Class, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Edited by: Lillian Dolentz, 2008