Editing Archibald Sayce (section)

== Life ==
Sayce was born in [[Shirehampton]], near [[Bristol]], on 25 September 1845.<ref name = "ODNB">{{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 = Gunn
 | first1 = Battiscombe
 | title = Sayce, Archibald Henry (1845–1933)
 | encyclopedia = [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]
 | year = 2004
 | doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/35965
 }}</ref> Although the start of his education was delayed due to ill health he had suffered since birth, Sayce was a quick learner. When his first tutor was appointed in 1855, he was already reading works in [[Latin]] and [[Ancient Greek]].<ref name="Remini">{{Citation
 | last = Sayce
 | title = Reminiscences
 | place = London, United Kingdom
 | publisher = Macmillan & Co
 | year = 1923
 | url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.536227/
 |access-date=2020-04-18}}</ref> He began his formal education at Grosvenor College shortly after his family moved to [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] in 1858.<ref name ="Remini"/> By the age of 18, he had already taught himself to read some [[Ancient Egyptian]], [[Sanskrit]] and [[Hebrew]] and had become interested in [[cuneiform]].<ref name="Langdon">{{cite journal
 | last1 = Langdon
 | first1 = S
 | title = Archibald Henry Sayce as Assyriologist 
 | journal = The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland
 | issue = 2
 | date = 1933
 | volume = 65
 | pages = 499–503
 | publisher = Cambridge University Press
 | jstor = 25194830
 | doi = 10.1017/S0035869X00075493
 | doi-access = free
 }}</ref><ref name ="Remini"/> He published his first academic paper, ''Cuneiform inscriptions of Van'' in 1865.<ref>{{cite journal
 | last = Sayce
 | title = Cuneiform inscriptions of Van
 | journal = The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland
 | volume = XIV
 | issue = 3
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
 | date = 1865
 | url = https://archive.org/details/cuneiforminscrip00sayc/page/n10/mode/2up
 | access-date = 2020-04-17 }}</ref>

In 1865 he became a classical scholar at [[The Queen's College, Oxford]].<ref name ="Griffth">{{cite web
 | url = http://egyptartefacts.griffith.ox.ac.uk/people/archibald-henry-sayce
 | title = Archibald Henry Sayce
 | date = 2015
 | publisher = [[Griffith Institute]]
 | access-date = 2020-04-17 }}</ref> While a student at Oxford, Sayce became friends with [[Max Müller]], [[John Rhys]], [[John Ruskin]] and [[Henry Acland]].<ref name ="Remini"/> Due to his poor health, Sayce spent time away from Oxford, and carried out his studies at home and on visits to the [[Pyrenees]] and [[Switzerland]].<ref name ="Remini"/> Sayce achieved a first-class in Classical Moderations (Greek and Latin) in 1866 and in Literae Humaniores (Philosophy and Ancient History) in 1868,<ref>'Oxford University Calendar 1895', Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1895: 184, 309.</ref> and was elected to a vacant Fellowship in the same year.<ref name ="Remini"/>

In 1869, Sayce was appointed a lecturer at Queen's College.<ref name ="Griffth"/> He was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1870.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection: A. H. Sayce letters {{!}} ArchivesSpace Public Interface |url=https://archives.libraries.emory.edu/repositories/2/resources/4241 |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=Pitts Special Collections and Archives, [[Emory University]]}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=The Aryan Moment: Racialising Religion in the Nineteenth Century |date=2006 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/forging-of-races/aryan-moment-racialising-religion-in-the-nineteenth-century/92FE5BA49E986E9BDE300D1540F64F7F |work=The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600–2000 |pages=168–202 |editor-last=Kidd |editor-first=Colin |access-date=2024-01-09 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511817854.006 |isbn=978-0-521-79324-7|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Ongoing problems with his sight almost led to the end of his Oxford career and Sayce spent much of his time travelling Europe. It was only from 1874, when he came under the supervision of ophthalmologist [[Richard Liebreich]], that Sayce was able to continue his academic career.<ref name ="Remini"/> In the same year he was appointed as the university's representative in the [[Old Testament Revision Company]].<ref name ="Remini"/> Sayce also began to deliver lectures to the [[Nineveh]] Society of Biblical Archaeology and contributed to ''[[The Times]]'' and the New York ''[[The Independent (New York City)|Independent]]''.<ref name = "Gifford">{{Citation
 | last1 = Addison
 | first1 = Sam
 | title = Archibald Henry Sayce
 | date = 18 August 2014
 | publisher = Gifford Lectures
 | url = https://www.giffordlectures.org/lecturers/archibald-henry-sayce
 | access-date = 2020-04-17}}</ref> In 1876 Sayce was appointed the Deputy Professor of Comparative Philology, a role shared with the continuing Professor, [[Max Müller]], who wanted to reduce his duties.<ref name = "Gifford"/><ref name ="Remini"/>

From 1872, Sayce spent most of his summers travelling for his health and in search of new texts.<ref name = "ODNB"/><ref name ="Budge"/> In 1879 he resigned from his tutorship at Oxford to dedicate his time to his research and exploring the near East.<ref name = "Gifford"/><ref name ="Remini"/> In 1881, Sayce was one of the first scholars to examine the [[Siloam Inscription]], which he described in the [[Palestine Exploration Fund]] Quarterly.<ref>A.H. Sayce, "The Inscription at the Pool of Siloam," ''Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement'' 13.2 (April 1881): ([[editio princeps]]), p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystatem00unkngoog#page/n105/mode/1up 69–73]</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Sayce|first=A.H.|title=Records of the Past (New Series)|volume=1 |date=1888|publisher=S. Bagster and sons|location=London |pages=168–175 |language=en |oclc=490361528}}</ref> Sayce resigned his professorship in 1890 and briefly moved to Egypt, where he was instrumental in the reopening of the [[Egyptian Museum|Museum of Cairo]] in 1891.<ref name = "Gifford"/> In 1891, Sayce returned to Oxford to become the university's first Professor of Assyriology.<ref>{{cite web
 | url = https://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/history-faculty-1
 | title = History of the Faculty
 | last = Faculty of Oriental Studies, Oxford
 | access-date = 2020-05-15
 }}</ref><ref name = "Gifford"/>

Lectures were his favourite vehicle for publication, and he published his [[Hibbert Lectures]] on Babylonian religion in 1887.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Sayce, Rev. Archibald Henry|journal=Who's Who|year=1913|page=1782|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3453201;view=1up;seq=1816}}</ref> Sayce was also the Gifford Lecturer, 1900–1902; and Rhind Lecturer, 1906.<ref name = "Gifford"/>

Sayce was a founding member of the [[Society of Biblical Archaeology]],<ref name ="Remini"/> which he presided from 1898 until it was absorbed into the [[Royal Asiatic Society]] in 1919.<ref name = "ODNB"/><ref name ="FLGriffith">{{cite journal
 | last1 =  Griffith
 | first1 = Francis Llewellyn
 | title = Professor A. H. Sayce
 | journal = The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland
 | issue = 2
 | date = 1933
 | volume = 65
 | pages =  497–499
 | publisher = Cambridge University Press
 | doi = 10.1017/S0035869X00075481
 | author1-link = Francis Llewellyn Griffith
 | doi-access = free
 }}</ref> He was also an active member of the Royal Asiatic Society from 1874 and a founding member of the [[Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies]].<ref name ="FLGriffith"/><ref name ="ODNB"/>

After his retirement in 1915, Sayce continued to write and spent his time in Edinburgh, Oxford and Egypt.<ref name = "Gifford"/> By the end of his life, Sayce was considered{{by whom?|date=January 2025}} to be an amateur rather than a specialist and was criticized{{by whom?|date=January 2025}} for his lack of intellectual penetration and outdated opposition to the work of continental orientalists.<ref name ="ODNB"/> In 1923, he published ''Reminiscences'', an account of his life and his numerous travels.<ref name ="Remini"/> At the time of his death he was working on a translation of inscriptions discovered at [[Ugaritic texts|Ras Shamra]].<ref name="Langdon"/> Sayce died on 4 February 1933 in Bath.<ref name = "Gifford"/>