How to be an Egyptologist?

Question

How do you become an Egyptologist? What is the salary? What sort of stuff do you have to do as an Egyptologist?

Answer 1

You'll have to study Egypt's full history not just ancient history. Study Egyptian art (ancient, Coptic and Islamic) and i mean all kinds of art, then architecture, language (specially ancient Egyptian language) and archeology. You also will have to take preservation classes. Of course you'll have to learn some Arabic to use it while you're in Egypt.

Like the answerer above me said you'll have to learn some German cause Sir Alan Gardiner was a German who made a book about " ancient Egyptian Grammar" and most of the references are written in German.

Well, to be Egyptologist you need a long time learning all that, i graduated from Tourism university and i learned most of these subjects in 4 years plus extra German and Ancient Egyptian language classes in summer, starting my diploma now, that makes 5 to 6 years studying.... but it worth every day cause i love it so much. Thank God my job is what i dreamt of ... a museum curator :)

Good luck :)

Answer 2

go to college and study the needed courses , get a degree , then an MA , then a PhD  if you want to continue .

you have to love your studies to carry on .

you arent allowed to accompany tourists as a tour guide .

you work like Zahi Hawas who is world famous now .

Answer 3

You go to college and take classes in Anthropology, Classics, and Archeology. This takes quite a long time, then you specialize in Egyptology at a really REALLY expensive college. Since there are only a handful of jobs open in Egyptology you should specialize in a particular aspect of Egyptology such as pottery, wood preservation, or horticulture. You should also be fluent in German and French. Most books written about Egyptology are written in German and the French control Egyptian Antiquities. You should also be able to communicate a decent amount of Arabic since you're going to be in Egypt for quite some time.

You have to have a Ph D in Egyptology so the education as a whole takes eight or nine years and is extremely expensive. Since there are more people educated in this field than are needed their pay is low $35,000 to $45,000 dollars a year. Most teachers are paid approximately $30,000 dollars a year so it's not a really good salary for having that much schooling.

There's very little excavation in Egyptology. Mostly, it centers around preservation. There was a one room tomb found near King Tutankhamun's tomb that had several coffins in it. In order to preserve the coffins and the mummies inside them, Egyptologists had to remove them from the tomb. Unfortunately, the coffins were too weak to move so they used a speacial glue that hardened the wood of the coffins. This would preserve the coffins for a long time. Everything excavated needs to be preserved.

Those who specialize in pottery also would have to specialize in Ancient languages depending of which time period they study.

Those who specialize in Horticulture study plants found in tombs and in ancient dumps to see what the people ate and what they did with their plants. This involves more science than all the Egyptology specializations.

You could also work at a museum in Egypt but these jobs are usually held by people until they retire so there aren't any openings.

In short, Egyptology takes a ton of school and money and doesn't really return the favor. Those who are Egyptologist do it because they love it.

edit: Zahi Hawass may be world famous for being the head of Egyptian Antiquities but he's also mocked for "discovering" the light house at Alexandria. There are quite a few people who severly dislike Dr. Hawass.