I saw Dr. Hawass when he was in the US during an event at the Smithsonian’s, I was able to shake his hand but did not speak with him long enough to form an opinion (his lecture was very good).
I’ve heard he was a very hard task master, placed somewhat impossible conditions on archaeologists and other researchers. I’ve also heard complaints that he required huge “contributions” in order to work anywhere in Egypt and it was virtually impossible to work at any well known site.
Having met him twice, aside from a troll which does not really tell us much, what did he say/do that made you have such a poor opinion of him? Would you agree that he has been one of the best directors when it came to protecting Egypt’s artifacts and was relentless in getting artifacts back that were taken over the decades? Or, would you fall into the group who believes his work was to enrich his name and bank account more so than a desire to protect his countries history?
I’ve also heard complaints that he required huge “contributions” in order to work anywhere in Egypt and it was virtually impossible to work at any well known site.
Having met him twice, aside from a troll which does not really tell us much, what did he say/do that made you have such a poor opinion of him? Would you agree that he has been one of the best directors when it came to protecting Egypt’s artifacts and was relentless in getting artifacts back that were taken over the decades? Or, would you fall into the group who believes his work was to enrich his name and bank account more so than a desire to protect his countries history?
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The complaints about contributions and getting firmans to work at any well known site are true. Very much so.
And he was definitely out for the money and fame rather than the best interest of Archeology, Egyptology or his country.
I am used to dealing with Professors and academics and they tend to be an arrogant lot but he was even moreso. He didn’t want to be here, he hated America but he enjoyed the fawning that particularly the lay (armchair) archeologists gave him. He would shun women (which was actually a pretty high number of the professionals), and gravitate to the men, particularly if he thought he could get money from them, making promises that he would never deliver (access to digs and such). He also was disdainful of any students (I was a grad student at the time and the only grad student who was president of a chapter of AIA).
His desire, IMO, to have antiquities returned to Egypt was more to get his hands on them, and I have heard rumors from reliable sources that many of those items disappeared under his watch (similar to Carter and Canavoron with Tut’s tomb). His lectures were good, but rehearsed and he had difficulty with the one question and answer session I saw. One of my professors used to refer to him “Budge” which is a huge smackdown if you are familiar with the history of Egyptology. There are also a couple of accounts of him making false accusations of black market antiquities dealings in order to get items back to Egypt.
His decision in 2000/2001 to stop all tourist activity at the pyramids was officially to slow degradation of the sites but unofficially he was planning on selling access to the highest bidders (under the table of course - one of my professors was approached by him about this). The sharp decline of tourism after 9/11 led to a change of mind, possibly because of pressure from the Egyptian government.
I have also heard he was very harsh, particularly to non-muslim and non-Egyptian archeologists. His goal, IMO, was to prevent outsiders from working there, but financially that wasn’t feasible.
I only met him here stateside, and I never worked with him, but I can’t think of any professional in the field who liked him.
I am really hoping that the next director will be better.