Aziz Suryal Atiya

Who was Aziz Suryal Atiya?

Professor Aziz Suryal Atiya was a prominent Coptologist who was a Coptic historian and scholar and an expert in Islamic and Crusades studies.

Professor Atiya was the founder of the Institute of Coptic Studies in Cairo in 1950s, and was also the founder of the Middle East Center, University of Utah.

His library, The Aziz Atiya Library for Middle East Studies at University of Utah, is considered the fifth largest such collection in North America and is recognized internationally as a major research library in this field.

While at the University of Utah, Professor Atiya rediscovered ten lost papyri fragments related to the LDS scripture, Book of Abraham, in the archives of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

He was married, and father of two children.