Urbain Bouriant was a French Egyptologist, who discovered the Gospel of Peter

Gospel of Peter

The Gospel According to Peter , commonly called the Gospel of Peter, is one of the non-Canonical gospels which were rejected by the Church Fathers and the Catholic Church's synods of Carthage and Rome, which established the New Testament canon, as apocryphal...

 in a tomb at Akhmim. He is best known from his translation of Al-Maqrizi

Al-Maqrizi

Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn 'Ali ibn 'Abd al-Qadir ibn Muhammad al-Maqrizi ; Arabic: , was an Egyptian historian more commonly known as al-Maqrizi or Makrizi...

, published as Description topographique et historique de l'Egypte (Paris 1895-1900). He was the collaborator of Gaston Maspero

Gaston Maspero

Gaston Camille Charles Maspero was a French Egyptologist.-Life:Gaston Maspero was born in Paris to parents of Lombard origin. While at school he showed a special taste for history, and by the age of fourteen he was already interested in hieroglyphic writing...

 in 1880, when Maspero founded the French archaeological mission to Cairo, precursor of the Institut français d'archéologie orientale

Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale

.The Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale , also known as the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo is a French research institute based in Cairo, Egypt, dedicated to the study of the archaeology, history and languages of the various periods of Egypt's civilisation.The IFAO is...

 (IFAO).

From 1883 to December 1886, he was a curator at the museum of Bulaq, then director of IFAO until 1898. In the season of 1883-84, Bouriant discovered the copy of the Great Hymn to the Aten

Great Hymn to the Aten

The Great Hymn to the Aten is an ancient Egyptian hymn to the sun god Aten. It is attributed to Pharaoh Akhenaten, who attempted to convert Egypt to monotheism, with Aten being the only god. It was found, in its most complete form, in the tomb of Ay in the rock tombs at Amarna...

, in the tomb of Ay

Ay

Ay was the penultimate Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's 18th dynasty. He held the throne of Egypt for a brief four-year period , although he was a close advisor to two and perhaps three of the pharaohs who ruled before him and was the power behind the throne during Tutankhamun's reign...

 at Amarna

Amarna

Amarna is an extensive Egyptian archaeological site that represents the remains of the capital city newly–established and built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten of the late Eighteenth Dynasty , and abandoned shortly afterwards...

.