author
Samuel Birch
1813–1885
Drawn to ancient languages and artifacts from an early age, this pioneering British scholar helped turn Egyptian studies into a serious museum discipline. His long career at the British Museum and his widely read books made the ancient world feel newly legible to Victorian readers.
2 Audiobooks
History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 2 (of 2)
by H. B. (Henry Beauchamp) Walters, Samuel Birch
History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 1 (of 2)
by H. B. (Henry Beauchamp) Walters, Samuel Birch
About the author
Born in London on November 3, 1813, he was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and developed an early interest in unusual languages and antiquities. After a short period in the Record Office, he joined the British Museum in 1836, where his knowledge of Chinese and Egyptian writing quickly set him apart.
He went on to become one of the leading British Egyptologists of the 19th century. At the British Museum he eventually served as Keeper of Oriental Antiquities, and his work helped organize, interpret, and publish important collections of Egyptian and other ancient objects. He also wrote extensively, producing studies and catalogues that introduced many readers to hieroglyphs, pottery, and the civilizations of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean.
Remembered as both an antiquarian and a scholar of languages, he played a major role in shaping how museums and the public understood the ancient world in Victorian Britain. He died on December 27, 1885.