Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Classic Couples: the Quibells

My recent reading about Egyptology in the nineteenth century brings home an important truth: however much grand critical theories like to force individuals  into patterns, people are still people.

A number of male archeologists in nineteenth century Egypt married women who were passionately devoted to archaeology--and quite often writers and artists and funders in their own right. Detractors will wish to point out that they weren't archaeologists, and this is true. 

But this blog is about romance and relationships and marriage, and what stands out is how many of these women were equal partners with their husbands in the field. They were just as committed to the work. Annie Abernathy Pirie Quibell, the wife of James Edward Quibell, an early administrator and pupil of Flinders Petrie (who also married a woman who worked alongside him) was a published author. In fact, she published more than her husband.  

This appears not to have bothered him a whit--in fact, she thanks him by his full title in her opening words to Egyptian History and Art, an acknowledgment that is quite modern in its approach.