The Great Belzoni; The Circus Strongman Who Discovered Egypt's Ancient Treasures

by Stanley Mayes

• ISBN13: 9781860648779
• ISBN10: 1860648770
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2003-12-05
• Publisher: Tauris Parke Paperbacks

Summary

This is the extraordinary life story of Giovanni Belzoni: engineer, barber, monk, actor and strongman in a circus (where he earned his title "The Great Belzoni"), who became one of the giants of 19th century Egyptian Archaeology. Sometimes maligned as a tomb robber, he is perhaps the most important and yet least remembered explorer and archaeologist of the last two hundred years. Under seeming impossible conditions Belzoni transported the colossal granite head of Ramesses II from Thebes to England, where it is now one of the treasures of the British Museum. He went on to excavate the great temple of Abu Simbel, discover six major royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, including that of Seti I, and provide the British Museum with a spectacular collection of Egyptian antiquities. Giovanni Belzoni was the first person to penetrate the heart of the second pyramid at Giza and the first European to visit the oasis of Siwah and discover the ruined city of Berenice on the Red Sea. His exhibitions and best-selling memoirs made him a major celebrity in Regency London, where he was a huge influence on the vogue for Egyptian style in art, design and architecture. In 1823, at the age of forty-five, Belzoni died of fever trying to reach the mysterious city of Timbuktu.

Author Biography

Stanley Mayes was a respected historian and biographer, highly regarded for his work on Egypt, archaeology and the history of the Ottoman Empire.

Table of Contents

Preface	11	(6)
Chapter I	17	(13)
Chapter II	30	(16)
Chapter III	46	(10)
Chapter IV	56	(19)
Chapter V	75	(12)
Chapter VI	87	(23)
Chapter VII	110	(22)
Chapter VIII	132	(21)
Chapter IX	153	(20)
Chapter X	173	(20)
Chapter XI	193	(16)
Chapter XII	209	(16)
Chapter XIII	225	(22)
Chapter XIV	247	(17)
Chapter XV	264	(14)
Chapter XVI	278	(19)
Notes	297	(24)
Bibliography	321	(8)
Appendix A	329	(4)
Appendix B	333	(2)
Index	335