Lepsius, Karl Richard (1810–1884)

German Egyptologist. He led a Prussian expedition to Egypt in 1842–45, publishing the results of his researches in Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien/The Monuments of Egypt and Ethiopia (12 volumes), 1849–59. He was professor at the University of Berlin from 1846 until his death, and made the Egyptian collection of the Berlin Museum one of the finest in the world.

Between 1834 and 1842 Lepsius travelled widely in Europe, collecting material for his dissertations on Egyptian art, and studying the ancient Etruscan and Oscan languages. His works on ancient Egypt include Chronologie der Ägypter/Chronology of the Egyptians, 1849; and Königsbuch der Alten Ägypter/The Ancient Egyptian Book of Kings, 1858.