Mariette Pasha, FRANÇOIS AUGUSTE FERDINAND, Egyptian explorer, was born at Boulogne, 11th February 1821, and was educated at the municipal college of the town. He became French master at a school at Stratford-on-Avon in 1839, and in 1840 a pattern-designer at Coventry. But he soon returned to Boulogne, and after taking his degree at Douay (1841) was appointed professor at his native college. His connection with Nestor l'Hôte, the companion of Champollion, directed Mariette's attention to the hieroglyphic monuments; in 1849 he entered the Egyptian department of the Louvre, and in 1850 was despatched to Egypt in search of Coptic MSS. Whilst there he made his famous discovery of the Serapeum, the long-buried cemetery of the Apis bulls, and brought to light a host of important monuments and inscriptions in Memphis, Sakkara, Gizeh, and the neighbourhood. In 1858 he was appointed Keeper of Monuments to the Egyptian government, and thenceforward his life was devoted to archaeological exploration in the Nile valley. With indefatigable industry he dug out the Sphinx and the temples of Dendera and Edfu, revealed the marvellous sculptures of Meydum and Gizeh, and the courts and inscriptions of Medinet Habu, Deyr-el-Bahrī, Karnak, and Abydos, and began the excavation of Tanis, since pursued by the Egypt Exploration Fund. Nor was he less active with pen and pencil. In 1856-57 appeared his Serapéum et Memphis (also ed. Maspéro, 1882); four editions of his Aperçu de l'Histoire d'Égypte came out between 1864 and 1874, and six of the Catalogue du Musée de Boulak (which he founded in 1863, and which is full of the results of his labours) from 1864 to 1876; he published sumptuous descriptions in many volumes, with folio plates of the chief temples—Dendérah (1870-75), Abydos (1869-80), Karnak (1875), Deir-el-Bahari (1877), Monuments Divers (1872, ff.); while his Itinéraire de la Haute Égypte has been translated by his brother (Monuments of Upper Egypt, 1877), and his Mastabas edited by Maspéro (1882). Besides the Boulak (now Gizeh) Museum, which owes its existence to its first director, Mariette founded the French School of Egyptology and the Egyptian Institute. He was raised to the rank of a pasha in 1879; he died at Cairo, 19th January 1881, and was buried in the garden of his museum.
See E. Deseille, Aug. Mariette (1882); H. A. Wallon, Notice, Inst. de France (1883); A. B. Edwards, Academy (January 1881).