Zahi Hawass, long on self-aggrandizement and short on scientific knowledge, was everything that was wrong with the latest dictatorship in Egypt.
After months of pressure from critics who attacked his credibility and accused him of having been too close to the regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, Hawass lost his job along with about a dozen other ministers in a Cabinet reshuffle meant to ease pressure from protesters seeking to purge remnants of Mubarak's regime.
"He was the Mubarak of antiquities," said Nora Shalaby, an activist and archaeologist. "He acted as if he owned Egypt's antiquities, and not that they belonged to the people of Egypt."
Shalaby said Hawass didn't tolerate criticism. She said most his finds were about self-promotion, with many "rediscoveries" in search of the limelight. Hawass prided himself in being the "keeper and guardian" of Egypt's heritage. He told an Egyptian lifestyle magazine, Enigma, in 2009 that George Lucas, the maker of the "Indian Jones" films, had come to visit him in Egypt "to meet the real Indiana Jones."
His name has been associated with most new archaeological digs in Egypt, with grand discoveries such as the excavation of the Valley of the Golden Mummies in Bahariya Oasis in 1999 and the discovery of the mummy of Egypt's Queen Hatshepsut almost a decade later.
Take a moment to delight in the possibility that science will win out over politics briefly - while you hope that fundamentalists don't take control in Egypt and make things even worse for science - and then read the most ridiculous quotes of Zahi Hawass and watch a clip from his inane television show.
