Giovanni Battista Belzoni - Reference

Explorer and antiquity-hunter, born in Padua, NE Italy. In 1815 he went to Egypt, and there was commissioned by Mehemet Ali to construct hydraulic machinery for irrigation purposes. He devoted himself thereafter to tomb robbing and the exploration of Egyptian antiquities, including the removal from Thebes of the colossal bust of Rameses II, which he sent to the British Museum.

For the city in Mississippi, see Belzoni, Mississippi.

Giovanni Battista Belzoni (November 15, 1778 – December 3, 1823) was an Italian explorer of Egyptian antiquities.

Belzoni was born at Padua, the son of a barber.

In 1812 he left England, and after travelling in Spain and Portugal reached Egypt in 1815, where Salt was then British consul-general. Belzoni wanted to show Mehemet Ali a hydraulic machine of his own invention for raising the waters of the Nile. Though the experiment with this engine was successful, the design was abandoned by the pasha, and Belzoni resolved to continue his travels. Burckhardt, he was sent by Salt to the Ramesseum at Thebes, whence he removed with great skill the colossal bust of Ramesses II, commonly called "the Young Memnon" – shipped by Belzoni to England, this piece is still on prominent display at the British Museum. He also pushed his investigations into the great temple of Edfu, visited Elephantine and Philae, cleared the great temple at Abu Simbel of sand (1817), made excavations at Karnak, and opened up the sepulchre of Seti I (still sometimes known as "Belzoni's Tomb").

In 1819 he returned to England, and published in the following year an account of his travels and discoveries entitled Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia, &c. He also exhibited during 1820–1821 facsimiles of the tomb of Seti I. The exhibition was held at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London. In 1822 Belzoni showed his model in Paris.

In 1823 he set out for West Africa, intending to travel to Timbuktu. He reached Benin, but was seized with dysentery at a village called Gwato, and died there. In 1829 his widow published his drawings of the royal tombs at Thebes.

Reference

Catholic Encyclopedia article

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.