Marietta the Egyptologist
Auguste Mariette (seated, far left) and Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (seated, far right) with others during the monarch’s visit to the Giza Necropolis at the end of 1871. ( via)
Auguste Marietta February 11, 1821 – was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist.
* gaining government funds to set up the museum in Cairo (aka the Bula Museum or Bulak Museum) in 1863 in order to take the pressure off the sites and stop the trade in illicit antiquities[2].
* the pyramid-fields of Memphis and (exploiting his previous success to find a cache of c.2000BC painted wooden statues such as the Seated Scribe, and the decorated tomb of Khafra) the tombs of Saqqara
* the necropolis of Meidum, and those of Abydos and Thebes
* the great temples of Dendera and Edfu were disinterred
* important excavations were carried out at Karnak (marking the first full Egyptian use of the stratigraphic methods first developed by Karl Richard Lepsius and of photographing every object prior to its excavation), Medinet-Habu and Deir el-Bahri
* Tanis (the Egyptian capital in the Late Period) was partially explored in the Delta
* even Gebel Barkal in Sudan was explored
* He cleared the sands around the Sphinx down to the bare rock, and in the process discovered the famous granite and alabaster monument, the “Temple of the Sphinx”.
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Edfu was not a terribly important place of ancient Egypt, but according to the Egyptian myths it was the place where the falcon-headed god Horus avenged the murder of his father Osiris by killing Seth.
Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette (although there are scholars who argue that the scenario was really written by Temistocle Solera).
It was first performed at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo on December 24, 1871 under the baton of Giovanni Bottesini.
Happy birthday Peter Gabriel (Feb 13 updated)
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Mr Fish goes to Egypt