T. E. Peet, a mathematician among Egyptologists?

During the 1920s, the study of ancient Egyptian mathematics was particularly vigorous, with the emergence of new sources, and new editions of old ones. A central figure, and virtually the only professional Egyptologist in this activity, was Thomas Eric Peet (1882--1934). Before embarking on an archaeological career, Peet had studied mathematics at university, which probably accounts for the major interest that he subsequently took in Egyptian mathematics. Although he never pursued mathematics professionally, he sometimes referred to himself as a 'mathematician', presumably as a means of distinguishing himself among Egyptologists. Elsewhere, however, he used the word in a much less complimentary way to refer to those scholars who took a mathematically-focused and uncontextualised approach to the study of ancient mathematics. This article examines three different ways in which Peet employed the word `mathematician', thereby illuminating both his own career trajectory and self-presentation, and also the way in which different disciplines interacted within the study of ancient mathematical texts