Early Explorations

Question 1

What did Richard Pococke observe (quote)?

Answer 1

“signs of about eighteen [tombs] … [though] now there are only nine that can be enter’d into.”

Question 2

What did Richard Pococke publish?

Answer 2

The first significant published account of the Valley of the Kings – 1743 ‘Observations on Egypt’.

Question 3

How did James Bruce describe the royal tombs (quote)?

Answer 3

“magnificent, stupendous sepulchres” in a “solitary place”

Question 4

Why was Ramesses III’s tomb known as Bruce’s tomb?

Answer 4

Due to James Bruce’ description of “a fresco [of] three harps” which he accompanied by highly embellished and inaccurate depictions in his ‘Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile’, 1790.

Question 5

What record of his presence did William George Browne leave in the Valley of the Kings?

Answer 5

Wrote his name on the wall in a room of KV11 (Ramesses III) in 1792.

Question 6

What did William George Browne publish?

Answer 6

An account of an Arab excavation in the valley by a son of one Sheikh Hamam - ‘Travels in Africa, Egypt and Syria’

Question 7

What did the early explorers (eg. Pococke, Bruce and Browne) accomplish?

Answer 7

Whetting the European appetite for Egyptology. Making the Valley of the Kings known in Europe.

Question 8

In what century were the early European explorers (eg. Pococke, Bruce and Browne) in the Valley of the Kings?

Answer 8

1700s.

Question 9

Why did Napoleon’s expedition go to Egypt in 1798?

Answer 9

Military/political aims - to secure a new passage to India and an empire in the east via Suez.

Question 10

Why did Napoleon’s expedition stay in Egypt?

Answer 10

Nelson (English admiral) destroyed the French fleet soon after Napoleon entered Cairo, leaving the French company stranded for three years.

Question 11

Who made up the Napoleonic expedition in 1798?

Answer 11

4000 soldiers and 139 savants, whose role was to study every physical aspect of the country, ancient and modern.

Question 12

What did Baron Denon of the Napoleonic expedition achieve?

Answer 12

He spent three hours in the six accessible tombs and quickly drew as many objects and scenes as possible.
He published the ‘Voyages dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte’ in 1802 which whet the public’s appetite.

Question 13

Who was the Institut d’Egypte?

Answer 13

The scholars (savants) of the expedition who stayed behind when Napoleon and Denon returned to France.

Question 14

What did the Institut d’Egypte achieve?

Answer 14

They made the first accurate survey of the royal wadi and recorded the position of 16 tombs.
They recorded the existence of the West Valley for the first time, including the existence of one of the most beautiful and important tombs – WV22 (Amenhotep III).
They discovered the Rosetta Stone which would lead to the ability to read and translate Hieroglyphics.

Question 15

What did the Institut d’Egypte publish?

Answer 15

19-volume ‘Description de l’Egypte’ which would change the face of Egyptian studies for good.

Question 16

Who were Drovetti and Salt?

Answer 16

The French and British Consul-Generals in Egypt. They fought over antiquities to take them back to their own countries.

Question 17

Who was Belzoni?

Answer 17

A hydraulic engineer who had initially travelled to Egypt to try to sell a water-lifting device. He failed and found employment as Salt’s field man.

Question 18

How did Belzoni prove his worth to Salt?

Answer 18

He was able to arrange the transportation of a colossal head of Ramesses II from the Ramesseum to London within two weeks; something Drovetti had failed to do.

Question 19

What discoveries did Belzoni make?

Answer 19

8 royal tombs including Ay (WV23) and Seti I (KV17).
Seti I’s sarcophagus was “of the finest oriental alabaster”. He shipped it to England and offered to sell it to the British Museum. They refused and it ended up in the private collection of Sir John Soane, in whose house it still sits today.

Question 20

How did Belzoni show his discoveries to the public in England?

Answer 20

He put on a London exhibition of Seti I’s tomb at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly. The exhibition included a 1/6 scale model of the entire tomb and full-sized reproductions of the most impressive scenes. These plaster casts damaged the reliefs but some of the reproductions still survive.

Question 21

How did Salt feel about Belzoni when his employer surpassed him? Quote

Answer 21

“that prince of ungrateful adventurers… I have but one wish, never to have my name coupled with his.”

Question 22

What damage did Belzoni cause during his ‘excavations’.

Answer 22

Belzoni made lots of the discoveries we see in the British Museum today but he also made a lot of damage. He used dynamite. He left the tombs open to the elements, he took scenes off walls and took squeezes which damaged the paint work underneath.