Richard Parkinson
Assistant Keeper
Ancient Egyptian pharaonic
culture
Department: Ancient Egypt and Sudan
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7323 8311
Email: egyptian @ thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
Richard Parkinson joined the museum in 1991,
having taught at Oxford University. He is the curator responsible
for the care, research, publication and display of the collection’s
papyri, and also hieratic and hieroglyphic texts, inscribed
materials including the Rosetta Stone, and the Nebamun
wall-paintings; he supervises the department’s archival material
and epigraphy, and is responsible for university liaison and access
to the department’s collections.
Parkinson’s research interests centre round the interpretation
of ancient Egyptian literature, especially the poetry of the
classic age (1940-1640 BC). As well the philological editing of
manuscripts, he works on material contexts, actors’ perspectives,
literary theory (‘new historicist’ and ‘material philology’
practices). He is interested in literary texts as a means for a
‘subaltern’ history, and in issues of performance practice,
cultural power, and sexuality in Egyptian culture. He regularly
teaches classes and supervises graduates on relevant topics.
Current British Museum projects
Previous British Museum projects
1999-2000
Curator, Cracking Codes: The Rosetta Stone and
Decipherment (Rosetta Stone bicentenary exhibition).
2001-2
Lead curator and project leader for Gallery 61, Understanding
Egyptian Culture (opened 2002).
2001-3
Departmental curator for The Enlightenment Gallery project
(opened 2003, showing Egyptian artefacts in eighteenth and
nineteenth century contexts).
2003-4
Lead curator and project leader for Rosetta Stone redisplay (opened
2004).
1999-2009
Lead curator and project leader for Nebamun
wall-painting project
The Tomb-chapel of Nebamun: Ancient
Egyptian Life and Death (opened 2009)
External fellowships/ honorary positions/ membership of professional bodies
Visiting lecturer, University of Goettingen,
University of Koln
Honorary doctorate, New Bulgarian University, Sofia
Publications
R. B. Parkinson, Reading Ancient Egyptian Poetry: Amon g
Other Histories (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell 2009) (http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405125470.html)
R. Parkinson, The Painted Tomb-chapel of Nebamun
(London, and Cairo, British Musuem Press and American University
Press in Cairo)
R. B. Parkinson, The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant
(Oxford, Griffith Institute 2006 [1st ed. 1991])
R. Parkinson, The Rosetta Stone (British Museum Objects
in Focus series; British Museum Press 2005)
R. B. Parkinson, Poetry and Culture in Middle Kingdom
Egypt: A Dark Side to Perfection (Athlone
Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies; London and New York,
Continuum Press 2002; paperback edition in press: Equinox
publishing)
R. B. Parkinson, The Tale of Sinuhe and other Ancient
Egyptian Poems 1940-1640 bc. (Oxford Worlds classics; Oxford,
Oxford University Press 1999[1997]) [Awarded the British-Kuwait
Friendship Society Literary Award by the British Society for Middle
Eastern Studies: 1998] http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199555628
R. B. Parkinson, Cracking Codes: The Rosetta Stone and
Decipherment (London: British Museum Press, University of
California Press 1999)