Alexander Henry Rhind (/raɪnd/; 26 July 1833 – 3 July 1863) was a Scottishantiquarian andarchaeologist.
Born on 26 July 1833 inWick in the Scottish Highlands, Rhind studied at theUniversity of Edinburgh.[1] He has often been erroneously referred to as a lawyer, but he never actually studied law.[2] Rhind excavated and published a number of prehistoric sites in northern Scotland in the early 1850s, and donated the finds to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (now in National Museums Scotland).[3] Suffering frompulmonary disease, he travelled to Egypt in the winters of 1855–1857 with the intention of excavating and collecting for the newly formed National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland.[4]
He collected material for his book entitledThebes, its Tombs and their Tenants, which was published in 1862. He was a prolific writer with a methodical research style, despite continuing to battle ill health.
Among the items that he collected was theRhind Papyrus, also known as theAhmes Papyrus after its Egyptian scribe. Rhind acquired it around 1858,[5] and following his death shortly afterwards, it was sold to theBritish Museum, along with the similarEgyptian Mathematical Leather Roll. Both are mathematical treatises and both were purchased in theLuxor market, and may have previously been stolen from theRamesseum. When chemically softened and decoded years afterward, they show the Egyptians had computed the value ofπ as 3.1605, a margin of error of less than one percent.
He has been described as a "young hero", the only "bright shining light of archaeological method and conscience" in the mid-nineteenth century, who plotted the exact location of artefacts and their relationships, the first to do so.[6]
Rhind died in his sleep at the age of 29, on 3 July 1863 inCadenabbia. Along with his 1600-volume library he left a bequest to theSociety of Antiquaries of Scotland to fund a lectureship, and the prestigiousRhind Lectures currently hosted by the Society commemorates his name.[7]Rhind directed that a sum from his estate at Sibster,Caithness, be used for this purpose, once the interests of living parties was extinguished; this eventuated in 1874, 11 years after his death.[1]
.png)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
