Faculty Profile

Egyptologist and "mummy freak" Gerald "Gerry" Kadish, Professor of History and Near Eastern Studies

Self-proclaimed "mummy freak," professor of ancient history and Egyptologist Gerry Kadish stands at the podium in SL-212 on the first day of a class he has taught frequently over the past 41 years: "The Rise and Fall of Rome." He describes each of the class' required books and, often, the books' authors (Polybius, Plutarch and Tacitus), including how their experiences informed their perspectives. He moves on to offer a definition of history: "History is not merely the attempt to establish what happened in the past. It's a description of what is most likely to have happened, and, by processing the materials available, determining why what happened took place."

The information he provides is clear, direct and specific; his delivery is humorous and easy-going. For example, when touching on housekeeping issues, he tells the 115 students in the class that they can interrupt him in the middle of a lecture -- but to "raise your hand, don't blurt out."

Kadish sprinkles his outline of the course content with specific examples and stories to illustrate broader points. For example, he notes that Romans observed "elaborate social norms" and were "sticklers for procedures of law," then describes the protocol for declaring war, which involved a special order of priests who delivered messages and threats in proscribed stages. He has a gift for tying together disparate pieces of information, as when he notes in passing that Mark Antony's speech in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar comes from Plutarch. And he doesn't mince words: The Romans, he noted, had "no constitutional structure for getting rid of a bad ruler" and couldn't be sure of everyone in the line of succession. In fact, "some were likely to be nuts -- Caligula, for example," he said.

Love poems, Egyptian style Gerry Kadish (left) and Milton Kessler (who died in May 2000) pored over an Egyptian manuscript, Chester Beatty Papyrus I, a 19th-dynasty collection of seven love poems, in 1973. Working together, Kadish and Kessler translated these and other ancient poems, including some tomb songs, which were sung by harpists in Egyptian tombs, as Kadish explained. "Each of these love poems contained a gimmick: The first and last words in the poems are graphic puns on the number of the poem in the series of seven," said Kadish. "Milt took my translations and ÔKesslerized' them. Then I reviewed them to determine the degree to which they were [still] Egyptian." Kadish and Kessler did lectures together on this translation process and published the translated poems in the journal Alcheringa in 1973. Later, composer Karl Korte, who had previously taught in BU's Music Department, wrote an oratorio dedicated to pianist Jean Casadesus and based on these translations, and Robert Page performed them with the Temple University Choir.

Kadish's fascination with antiquity began when he was a student at the Bronx High School of Science, where he took a course in ancient and medieval history and delved into Greek, Roman and Norse mythology. His interest blossomed when he was stationed in Germany in the Army (August 1954-January 1956) and read The History of Egypt by James Henry Breasted. After the Army, Kadish attended Hunter College and went on to the University of Chicago, where he studied under John A. Wilson, who had been a student of Breasted. There he earned his PhD in history, focusing on Egyptian and Near Eastern history, with additional coursework in Greco-Roman history. Originally hired to teach Greek and Roman history at Harpur in 1963, Kadish soon expanded his course offerings to include Egypt -- his research specialty -- as well as the ancient Near East.

More recently, Kadish has branched out and begun teaching medieval and early-modern Japanese history. Japanese history, literature and culture had been a personal interest of his for many years, one in which he'd read extensively. He taught "Japan to 1600" for the first time in fall 2002, and in spring 2004 began teaching an upper-division course on the period of the Tokugawa shogunate (1600-1868). Kadish continues to teach his perennial favorite, "Ancient Egyptian Civilization," both at BU and, since 2001, at Cornell University.

Asked why he teaches, Kadish quoted a line from the general prologue of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales about the clerk (scholar) of Oxford: "And gladly would he learn and gladly teach." An avid reader (the walls of his office are completely obscured by books) whose fascination with history is ever- expanding, he keeps up with new research and interpretations in his field of study and "constantly reassesses his assumptions," as he put it. He also enjoys daily contact with other professors on campus, both in his own field and in other fields. He has close ties to the Anthropology Department, in particular, where he has frequently served on PhD candidates' committees when they defend their dissertations.

Kadish delights in the ethnic diversity of today's BU students. Moreover, he adds, "Interacting with students is exciting. It's wonderful to see a certain kind of awakening in students, to see their interest grow."