Aziz Suryal Atiya was an Egyptian Coptologist who was a Coptic historian and scholar and an expert in Islamic and Crusades studies. Atiya was the founder of the Institute of Coptic Studies in Cairo in 1950s, and was also the founder of the Middle East Center, University of Utah. His library, The Aziz Atiya Library for Middle East Studies at University of Utah, is considered the fifth largest such collection in North America and is recognized internationally as a major research library in this field. While at the University of Utah, Professor Atiya rediscovered ten lost papyri fragments related to the LDS scripture, Book of Abraham, in the archives of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Work
Atiya published a large study entitled The Crusades in the Later Middle Ages in 1938, and was also the first author of The Coptic Encyclopedia, published in 1991. The chapters on the Copts in his book The History of Eastern Christianity have become landmarks, not only for specialists but also for the general public. It was Atiya who, after many lively debates with the publishers and their readers, had the words 'Coptology' and 'Coptologist' introduced into the English language. He could speak English, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Latin, and to a lesser extent, Spanish, Greek, Coptic, Turkish, Welsh, and Dutch.
Academic career
Honorary Professor of Medieval History for Kahle's Orientalisches Seminar in Bonn, Germany 1935-1939
The Arabic Manuscripts of Mount Sinai: A Hand-list of the Arabic Manuscripts and Scrolls Microfilmed at the Library of the Monastery of St. Catherine. ASIN B0006AU4NM.
Atiya published approximately twenty books, many of which are multi-volume projects also journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia articles, including authoring or co-authoring dozens in the monumental Coptic Encyclopedia.
