The New International Encyclopædia/Naville, Edouard Henri

NAVILLE, nȧ′vē̇l′, Edouard Henri (1844—). A Swiss Egyptologist, born at Geneva, June 14, 1844. He studied at the university of his native city, King's College, London (1862), Bonn (1866), and at the Faculté des Lettres, Paris, receiving his degree in 1867. During his university career he paid much attention to Egyptology, and in 1868 he followed the courses of Lepsius at Berlin. The following year he went to Egypt, and in 1870 he published as the result of his investigations there his work, Textes relatifs au mythe d'Horus recueillis dans le temple d'Edfou (Geneva). His La litanie du soleil appeared in 1875, and his Inscription historique de Pinodjem III. was published at Paris in 1883. In 1874 Naville was commissioned by the London Congress of Orientalists to edit the text of the Egyptian Book of the Dead (q.v.). Naville spent the next ten years collecting material in the libraries and museums of Europe. The results of his labors appeared in Das ägyptische Todtenbuch der 18. bis 20. Dynastie (l886), one of the most important works in the history of Egyptology. Beginning in 1882, Naville usually spent his winters in Egypt conducting investigations for the Egypt Exploration Fund, and his work in this direction produced most valuable results. In 1891 he became professor of Egyptology in the University of Geneva. Among the most important of Naville's works, in addition to those already mentioned, are: The Store City of Pithom and the Route of the Exodus, Egypt Exploration Fund Memoir i. (1885); Goshen and the Shrine of Saft el Henneh, Egypt Exploration Fund Memoir iv. (1887); The Festival Hall of Osorkou II., Egypt Exploration Fund Memoir x. (1892); Ahnas el Medineh, Egypt Exploration Fund Memoir xi. (1894); Deir el Bahari, Egypt Exploration Fund Memoirs xii., xiii., xiv., xvi., xix. (1894-1901).