E. (Emile) Amélineau

Born in 1850 and dying in 1915, Émile Amélineau was a French Coptologist, archaeologist, and Egyptologist. He first earned recognition for editing and publishing previously unpublished Coptic texts, work that gave him an important place in the study of early Christian Egypt.

Amélineau later became closely associated with excavations at Abydos in Egypt during the 1890s. Those digs kept his name in the history of archaeology, but not always favorably: later re-excavation by Flinders Petrie led to lasting criticism of his methods and of the damage said to have been done at the site.

That mixed legacy makes him an especially interesting historical figure. He stands both as a serious scholar of Coptic literature and as a reminder of how much archaeological standards have changed over time.