Breasted, James Henry (1865–1935)

US Orientalist. Well known as the author of textbooks and popular works on the history of the ancient Near East, Breasted founded the University of Chicago Oriental Institute, funded by John D Rockefeller, as a centre of American archaeological research. He published A History of Egypt 1905, and directed the Chicago expedition to Egypt and Sudan 1905–07.

Born in Rockford, Illinois, USA, Breasted was first trained as a pharmacist but later pursued studies in Egyptology at Yale University and the University of Berlin, Germany. He entered the University of Chicago 1896.