In memoriam prof. PhDr. Petr Charvát (12. 1. 1949 – 17. 9. 2023)

101EULOGIES In memoriam prof.PhDr.Petr Charvát (12.1.1949– 17.9.2023) Ladislav Bareš Shortly before his 75th birthday, Professor Petr Charvát, along ‑time friend and collaborator of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, passed away. Although his life and career were, for the most time, connected with cuneiform studies and early medieval archaeology and history of the Czechia, he left asignificant trace in the field of Egyptology as well. Starting from 1967, he studied prehistory and history at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University, moving later to prehistory and cuneiform studies (with prof.Lubor Matouš, him‑ self apupil of František Hrozný, the decipherer of Hititte language, 1 and Vladimír Souček as his teachers). Since 1971, he began to attend the Egyptological classes as well, specialized courses of Egyptian archaeology and material culture above all. For hisM.A. thesis, he chose arather large and heterogenous set of pottery that had been found during the Czech archaeological work in the Fifth Dynasty mastaba of Vizier Ptahshepses at Abusir during the previous years (from 1960 to 1970) and were unpublished until then (Charvát 1973). 1 On Lubor Matouš, see, e. g. Hruška (1985) and Vavroušek (2008). Fig. 1 Petr Charvát examining asmall pottery vessel during his work in the mastaba of Ptahshepses at Abusir in 1974 (Archive of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, photo Milan Zemina) 102 PRAGUE EGYPTOLOGICAL STUDIES XXXI/2023 Fig. 2 Petr Charvát (watched by the author of this paper) counting miniature ceramic vessels during the excavations of the south ‑western outer corner of the mastaba of Ptahshepses at Abusir in 1974; his “personal best” reached to 948 such vessels in one day (Archive of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, photo Milan Zemina) Fig. 3 Petr Charvát with other members of the Czech archaeological team during avisit in the Saqqara South pyramid field in 1974. From the left to right Petr Charvát, Jean ‑Phillipe Lauer (the host), František Váhala and Miroslav Verner in front of the Pyramid Texts in the burial chamber of Pepy I(Archive of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, photo Milan Zemina) 103EULOGIES Graduating from the faculty in 1973, he got aone ‑year study stay in the Czechoslovak In‑ stitute of Egyptology at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University. During that time, he prepared aPhDr.thesis dealing, this time, with the finds of the decorated pottery coming from the mastaba of Ptahshepses as an important source for the study of the development of this type of pottery during 2nd and 1st millennia BC (Charvát 1974). In 1974, he took part in the last and final season of the archaeological work in that tomb. Using his thorough theoretical background and his experience from the field work at Abusir, he prepared not only abrief chapter on pottery for the Preliminary Report on the Excavations at the Mastaba of Ptahshepses at Abusir (Charvát 1976), but two papers on Egyptian pottery (Charvát 1980; Charvát 1982) as well. His preoccupation with this kind of material from the tomb of Ptahshepses resulted in publishing athorough and detailed analysis of it in The Mastaba of Ptahshepses. The pottery in 1981, avolume useful and valuable until now (Charvát 1981). Since 1975, he pursued his career at the Institute of Archaeology and, since 1990, also in the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Czechoslovak/Czech Academy of Sciences. He took active part in anumber of archaeological missions in the Near East, such as the British mission in Djemdet Nasr in Iraq (1989), the Czech archaeological mission in Lebanon (since 1996) and the Spanish archaeological mission in the south ‑eastern Turkey (for anumber of consecutive years starting from 1996).2 For several years (1982 until 1984) he participated– as 2 He co ‑authored several papers (see e.g. Gil Fuensanta– Charvát 2004; Gil Fuensanta– Charvát 2006; Charvát– Gil Fuensanta 2005; Gil Fuensanta– Charvát– Crivelli 2008). Fig. 4 Reis Abdo el ‑Kereti offering some food to Petr Charvát during ameeting organized by the el ‑Kareti family for the members of the Czech archaeological team in 1974, with the author of this papers watching (Archive of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, photo Milan Zemina) 104 PRAGUE EGYPTOLOGICAL STUDIES XXXI/2023 an archaeological consultant– in the UNESCO project in the Abhayagiri Vihara monastery in Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka; as aresult of his activity there he published aunique find of an Egyptian scarab coming from that remote place (Charvát 1984). Although his attention was mainly concentrated on archaeology and history of the Czech lands in the early medieval era (before 1000 AD, in principle) at that time, he was able to follow the contacts of that area with Egypt (Charvát 1986) or the Czech archaeological activities in the Near East (Charvát 2021). For many years, his main research interest was connected with the formation of the early states in Mesopotamia and in the ancient world in general (Charvát 2002; 2013), based, among other sources, on seal imprints (Charvát 2005; 2017; 2018; see also Charvát 2011). To recognize Fig. 5 Postman bringing the long ‑awaited letters to the members of the Czech archaeological team on their return back from Abusir to Giza; from left to right Petr Charvát, the postman, Miroslav Verner and the author of this paper (Archive of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, photo Milan Zemina) 105EULOGIES his immense efforts and knowledge, as well as his unflagging friendship and co ‑operation, his friends, and colleagues from the Czech Institute of Egyptology and from the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences prepared avolume in his honour on the occa‑ sion of his 60th birthday (Maříková Vlčková– Mynářová– Tomášek 2009). In our minds, Petr Charvát will always be remembered as an excellent, internationally renowned scholar. At the same time, he was one of the most modest and unselfish friends and tutors, always prepared to share his immense knowledge, based on abrilliant memory and amaster grasp of anumber of languages– ancient and modern, with everybody who needed it and asked him for help. BIBLIOGRAPHY Charvát, Petr 1973 Keramika zareálu Ptahšepsesovy mastaby vAbúsíru [Pottery from the area of the Mastaba of Ptahshepses at Abusir, in Czech], Prague: Charles University (unpublishedM.A. thesis). 1974 Zdobená keramika zPtahšepsesovy mastaba vAbúsíru [Decorated pottery from the Mastaba of Ptahshepses at Abusir, in Czech], Prague: Charles University (unpublished PhDr.thesis). 1976 “Pottery from the Site of the Mastaba of Ptahshepses at Abusir”, in: Verner, Miroslav (ed.). Preliminary Report on Czechoslovak Excavations in the Mastaba of Ptahshepses at Abusir, Prague: Charles University, pp. 95–107. 1980 “The Bes jug: its origin and development in Egypt”, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Alter‑ tumskunde 107/1, pp. 46–52. 1981 The Mastaba of Ptahshepses: The pottery (Czechoslovak excavations at Abusir), Praha: Univerzita Karlova. 1982 “Abousir (fouilles de l’Institut tchèque, 1974–1978)”, Bulletin de liaison du groupe international d’étude de la céramique égyptienne 7, pp. 7–8. 1984 “An Egyptian Scarab from Sri Lanka (Ceylon)”, Göttinger Miszellen No. 70, pp. 19–26. 1986 “Velká Morava akoptský Egypt [Great Moravia and the Coptic Egypt, in Czech]”, Památky archeo‑ logické 77, pp. 5–17. 2002 Mesopotamia before History, London– New York: Routledge. 2005 The Iconography of Pristine Statehood: painted pottery and seal impressions from Susa, southwestern Iran, Prague: Karolinum. 2011 “Seals on the move: notes on newly discovered cylinder seals and sealings from prehistoric Egypt”, in: Callender, Vivienne Gae– Bareš, Ladislav– Bárta, Miroslav– Janák, Jiří– Krejčí, Jaromír (eds.). Times, Signs, and Pyramids: studies in honour of Miroslav Verner on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, pp. 121–127. 2013 The Birth of aState: ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China, Prague: Karolinum. 2017 Signs from Silence: Ur of the First Sumerians, Prague: Karolinum. 2018 “Oriental Subtleties: Counter ‑marking of Archaic Ur Seals Again”, in: Horejs, Barbara– Schwall, Christoph– Müller, Vera– Luciani, Marta– Ritter, Markus– Guidetti, Mattia– Salisbury, Roderick B.– Höflmayerand, Felix– Bürge, Teresa (eds.). Proceedings of the 10th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 303–314. 2021 “Česká archeologie na Blízkém Východě: od Sextánky kIndiana Jonesovi [“Czech archaeology in the Near East: from ‘Sextánka’ to Indiana Jones”, in Czech], in: Velhartická, Šárka (ed.). 100let české staroorientalistiky: české klínopisné bádání, předovýchodní archeologie aspřízněné obory vdokumentech [100 years of Czech studies on ancient Orient: Czech cuneiform studies, Near Eastern archaeology, and related disciplines in documents, in Czech], Praha: Libri, pp. 30–46. 106 PRAGUE EGYPTOLOGICAL STUDIES XXXI/2023 Charvát, Petr– Gil Fuensanta, Jesús 2005 “Trabajos de la Misión Arqueológica Española et Turquía (X): El proyecto Tilbes, 2004”,Boletín de la Asociación Española de Orientalistas 41, pp. 345–357. Gil Fuensanta, Jesús– Charvát, Petr 2004 “Trabajos de la Misión Arqueológica Española en Turquía (IX): El proyecto Tilbes, 2003”,Boletín de la Asociación Española de Orientalistas 40, pp. 267–283. 2006 “Trabajos de la Misión Arqueológica Española en Turquía (XI): El proyecto Tilbes, 2005”,Boletín de la Asociación Española de Orientalistas 42, pp. 41–58. Gil Fuensanta, Jesús– Charvát, Petr– Crivelli, Eduardo A. 2008 “The Dawn of aCity. Surtepe Höyük Excavations, Birecik Dam Area, Eastern Turkey”, in:Córdoba, Joaquín Mª –Molist, Miquel –Pérez, Mª Carmen– Rubio, Isabel– Martínez, Sergio (eds.). Proceedings of the 5th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (3–8 April 2006), Madrid: Centro Superior de estudios sobre el Oriente Próximo y Egipto, pp. 97–112. Hruška, Blahoslav 1985 “Lubor Matouš (1908–1984)”, Archiv Orientální 53/2, pp. 169–170. Maříková Vlčková, Petra– Mynářová, Jana– Tomášek, Martin (eds.) 2009 My Things Changed Things. Social Development and Cultural Exchange in Prehistory, Antiquity, and the Middle Ages, Prague: Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts– Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague,v.v.i. Vavroušek, Petr 2008 Ad perpetuam rei memoriam: památce Lubora Matouše (1908–2008), Praha: Ústav srovnávací jazykovědy, Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy. Ladislav Bareš Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University; [email protected]