John Baines

John Robert Baines, FBA (born 17 March 1946) is a retired British Egyptologist and academic. From 1976 to 2013, he was Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford and a fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford.

Baines was born on 17 March 1946. He is the oldest son of Edward Russell Baines and his wife Dora Margaret Jean (née O’Brien). He was educated at Winchester College, an all boys public boarding school in Winchester, Hampshire, England. He went on to study Egyptology at the University of Oxford. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) in 1967, later promoted to Master of Arts (MA). He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree (DPhil) in 1976.

Baines was Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford from 1976 to 2013. He was one of the youngest professors at the university at the age of 30. He retired from full-time academia in 2013 but maintains his link with Oxford as a research associate.

Baines is the author of multiple scholarly articles and publications relating to Ancient Egypt. His research interests are in Ancient Egyptian art, religion, literature, and biographies; modelling ancient Egyptian society; comparative and anthropological approaches to ancient civilizations.

In 2011, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.