The Sphinx Revealed: A Forgotten Record of Pioneering Excavations
Name
The_British_Museum_-_The_Sphinx_Revealed.pdf
Description
visibility:open
Size
210.57 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (CRC64NVME)
emk031RWbsE=
Resource type
Book
Creator (person)
Usick, Patricia
Manley, Deborah
Date published
2007
Abstract
In 2002 a two-volume manuscript memoir on the Pyramids and Sphinx, by Henry Salt, was rediscovered in the archives of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, at the British Museum. It was then studied in depth for the first time. The Text volume, written by Salt, the British Consul General in Egypt from 1816 until his death there in 1827, relates the results of work carried out by Captain Caviglia in 1816-18 in the Giza necropolis area on Salt's behalf. The Atlas volume contains 66 original drawings by Salt, showing the first modern excavation of the Sphinx and illustrates their discoveries beneath the Sphinx, in the Great Pyramid and among the surrounding tombs. These drawings include an annotated ground plan of the Giza necropolis which, for the first time, elucidates their discoveries. Salt also made accurate and important early copies of hieroglyphic and Greek inscriptions found during the Sphinx excavations and recorded the massive Roman stairway that was later cleared away. The work also enables us to illustrate and provenance certain pieces which came to the Museum through Salt and Caviglia.
Publisher
British Museum
Place of publication
London
Keywords
Collection