Richard Anthony Parker

Who was Richard Anthony Parker?

Richard Anthony Parker was a prominent Egyptologist and professor of Egyptology. Originally from Chicago, he attended Mt. Carmel High School with acclaimed author James T. Farrell. He received an A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1930, and a Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago in 1938. He then went to Luxor, Egypt to work as an epigrapher with the University of Chicago’s Epigraphic and Architectural Survey, studying the mortuary temple of Ramses III. When World War II necessitated a temporary halt to the project, Parker came back to Chicago to teach Egyptology at the university. In 1946, he returned to Egypt to continue his work on the epigraphic survey, and soon rose to the position of field director.

In 1948, he founded the Department of Egyptology at Brown University and became its first chairman, and also assumed the newly created position of the Charles Edwin Wilbour Professorship. That year, Parker also began his service as a founding trustee of the American Research Center in Egypt.

Parker's primary interests were in ancient science and mathematics. In 1951, he traveled to Egypt to examine monuments linked to ancient astronomy, and in subsequent years studied papyri at Paris, Florence, Vienna, Copenhagen and Oxford, in Britain. His major contributions included significant work in the areas of Egyptian language, astronomy, and chronology. Of particular note was his discovery that two ancient Egyptian calendars were employed simultaneously: a 365-day calendar used for administrative needs, and a lunar calendar used for religious and agricultural purposes. Parker’s work in this area continues to influence Egyptology research.