The French scholar and archaeologist François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (February 11, 1821 – January 19, 1881) was the foremost Egyptologist of his generation, and the founder of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Events 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. Year 1821 ( MDCCCXXI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year Events 1419 - Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England completing his reconquest of Normandy. Year 1881 ( MDCCCLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to the most extensive collection of Ancient Cairo () which means "the Vanquisher" or "the Triumphant" is the capital and largest city of Egypt.
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Life
Early career
Born at Boulogne-sur-Mer, Mariette proved to be a talented draftsman and designer, and he supplemented his salary as a teacher at Douai by giving private lessons and writing on historical and archaeological subjects for local periodicals. Boulogne-sur-Mer ( Bonen in Dutch is a City in Northern France. Douai ( Dutch: Dowaai) is a town and commune in the north of France in the département of Nord
Meanwhile his cousin Nestor L'Hote, the friend and fellow-traveller of Champollion, died, and the task of sorting his papers filled Mariette with a passion for Egyptology. Jean-François Champollion ( 23 December 1790 – 4 March 1832) was a French classical scholar, philologist He devoted himself to the study of hieroglyphics and Coptic. Egyptian hieroglyphs (ˈhaɪərəʊɡlɪf from Greek grc-Grek ἱερογλύφος " sacred carving " also hieroglyphic = grc-Grek Coptic or Coptic Egyptian ( MetRemenkīmi) is the final stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt Largely self-taught, his 1847 analytic catalogue of the Egyptian Gallery of the Boulogne Museum got him a minor appointment at the Louvre Museum in 1849. The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre located in Paris is the world's most visited art museum a historic monument and a national museum of France
First trip to Egypt
Entrusted with a government mission for the purpose of seeking and purchasing the best Coptic, Syriac, Arabic and Ethiopic manuscripts for the Louvre collection so that it retains its then-supremacy over other national collections[1], he set out for Egypt in 1850. See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Ge'ez (ግዕዝ, ɡɨʕɨz also transliterated Gi'iz, and referred to as Ethiopic) is an ancient South Semitic Language
After little success in acquiring manuscripts due to inexperience, to avoid an embarrassing return empty-handed to France and wasting what might be his only trip to Egypt, he visited temples and befriended a Bedouin tribe, who led him to Saqqara. Saqqara or Sakkara, Saqqarah ( Arabic: سقارة is a vast ancient burial ground in Egypt, featuring the world's oldest standing Step The site initially looked "a spectacle of desolation. . . [and] mounds of sand" (his words), but on noticing one sphinx from the reputed avenue of sphinxes that led to ruins of the Serapeum near the step-pyramid with its head above the sands, he gathered 30 workmen. A Sphinx is a Zoomorphic mythological figure which is depicted as a recumbent lion with a human head Serapis (Latin spelling or Sarapis in Greek was a syncretic Hellenistic - Egyptian god in Antiquity. Thus, in 1851, he made his celebrated discovery of this avenue and eventually the subterraneous tomb-temple complex of catacombs with their spectacular sarcophagi of the Apis bulls. A sarcophagus is a Funeral receptacle for a Corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone Breaking through the rubble at the tomb entrance on November 12, he entered the complex, finding thousands of statues, bronze tablets and other treasures, but only one intact sarcophagus.
Accused of theft and destruction by rival diggers and by the Egyptian authorities, Mariette began to rebury his finds in the desert to keep them from these competitors. Instead of manuscripts, official French funds were now advanced for the prosecution of his researches, and he remained in Egypt for four years, excavating, discovering — and despatching archaeological treasures to the Louvre, as was the accepted Eurocentric convention. However, the French government and the Louvre strike a deal to split the finds 50:50, so that on his return to Paris 230 crates go to the Louvre (and he is raised to an assistant conservator), but an equal amount remain in Egypt.
Director of Antiquities
However, unsatisfied with a purely academic role after his discoveries at Saqqara (he said "I knew I would die or go mad if I did not return to Egypt immediately"), after less than a year he returned to Egypt on the insistence of the Egyptian government under Ismail Pasha, who in 1858 created the position of conservator of Egyptian monuments for him. The history of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali Pasha dynasty was a period of rapid reform and modernization that led to Egypt becoming one of the most developed states
Moving with his family to Cairo, his career blossomed into a chronicle of unwearying exploration and brilliant successes:
- 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 Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to the most extensive collection of Ancient
- the pyramid-fields of Memphis and (exploiting his previous success to find a cache of c. Memphis was the ancient capitol of the first nome of Lower Egypt, and of the Old Kingdom of Egypt from its foundation until around 2200 BC and 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". The sculpture of the Seated Scribe is one of most important examples of ancient Egyptian art. Khafre also refers to a block cipher Khafra or Khafre ( Greek Χεφρήν, Chephren) Saqqara or Sakkara, Saqqarah ( Arabic: سقارة is a vast ancient burial ground in Egypt, featuring the world's oldest standing Step Located about 100km south of modern Cairo, Meidum or Maidum (ميدوم is the location of a large Pyramid, and several large mud-brick Mastabas Abydos ( Egyptian Abdju, 3bdw, Arabic: أبيدوس Greek Αβυδος one of the most ancient cities of Thebes ( Thēbai) was a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean on the east bank of the river Nile ( Dendera ( Arabic: دندرة also spelled Denderah/Dandarah) is a little town in Egypt on the west bank of the Nile, about 5 km south from Edfu (also spelt Idfu or in modern French as Edfou and known in antiquity as Behdet) is an Egyptian city located on the west bank The Karnak temple complex, universally known only as Karnak, describes a vast conglomeration of ruined temples chapels pylons and other buildings In Archaeology, especially in the course of Excavation, stratification is a paramount and base concept Karl (or Carl) Richard Lepsius ( December 23, 1810 &ndash July 10, 1884) was a pioneering Prussian Deir el-Bahri (Arabic دير البحري dayr al-baḥrī, literally meaning "The Northern Monastery " is a complex of Mortuary temples and tombs Tanis (Τάνις the Greek name of ancient Djanet (modern صان الحجر Ṣān al-Ḥaǧar) is a city in the north-eastern Nile delta The Late Period of Egypt refers to the last flowering of native Egyptian rulers after the Third Intermediate Period from the 26th Saite Dynasty into Persian Jebel Barkal or Gebel Barkal (جبل بركل is a small Mountain located some 400 km north of Khartoum, in Sudan, on a large bend of the Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) ( السودان al-Sūdān is a country in northeastern Africa. A Sphinx is a Zoomorphic mythological figure which is depicted as a recumbent lion with a human head
In 1860 alone he set up 35 new dig sites, whilst attempting to conserve already-dug sites. His success was aided by the fact that no rivals were permitted to dig in Egypt, a fact that the British (who had previously had the majority of Egyptologists active in the country) and Germans (who were politically allied with the country's Ottoman rulers) protested at as a 'sweetheart deal' between Egypt and France. Nor were Mariette's relations with the Khedive always stable. The Khedive, like many potentates, assumed all discoveries ranked as treasure and that what went to the museum in Cairo went only at his pleasure. Even early on, in February 1859, Mariette dashed to Thebes to confiscate a boatload of antiquities from the nearby tomb of Queen Aotep that were to have been sent to the Khedive.
In 1867 he returned to oversee the ancient Egyptian stand at the Exposition Universelle, to a hero's welcome for keeping France pre-eminent in Egyptology. In 1864 it was decreed by Emperor Napoleon III that an international exposition should be held in Paris in 1867. In 1869, at the request of the Khedive, he wrote a brief plot for an opera. The following year this concept, worked into a scenario by Camille du Locle, was proposed to Giuseppe Verdi, who accepted it as a subject for Aida. This article is about the marketing term AIDA For other uses of the term see Aida (disambiguation. [3] For Aida, Mariette and Du Locle oversaw the scenery and costumes, which were inspired by the art of Ancient Egypt. The premiere of Aida was originally scheduled for February of 1871, but was delayed until 24 December 1871, due to the siege of Paris at the height of the Franco-Prussian War (which trapped Mariette with the costumes and scenery in Paris). The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War ( 19 July, 1870 — 10 May, 1871 The opera met with great acclaim.
Mariette was raised successively to the rank of bey and pasha, and European honors and orders were showered on him. Bey is a Turkish title for "chieftain" traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups Pasha or pacha, formerly bashaw, (paşa پاشا ( Persian: پاشا ( Armenian: Փաշա was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire
In 1878 his museum was ravaged by floods, destroying most of his notes and drawings. By spring 1881, prematurely aged and nearly blind, he realised he appointed his own replacement to ensure France retained supremacy in Egyptology, the Frenchman Gaston Maspero (a linguist rather than an archaeologist, who he had met at the Exposition in 1867) rather than an Englishman (the English then making up the majority of Egyptologists in the country). Gaston Camille Charles Maspero ( June 23, 1846 &ndash June 30, 1916) was a French Egyptologist. He died in Cairo and was interred in a sarcophagus. A sarcophagus is a Funeral receptacle for a Corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone
Legacy
Though not all his discoveries were thoroughly published, the list of his publications is a long one.
Notes
- ^ Their acquisition by national and private collections was then a competitive endeavour - the English had the advantage of being able to pay higher prices, although that did not prevent ruthlessness and ambition by all sides.
- ^ Egyptsites.co.uk
- ^ The Khedive had asked Verdi to compose an ode in honour of the opening of the Suez Canal and the new Royal Opera House in Cairo in November 1869, but the composer declined. The Opera House opened with a performance of Rigoletto. Rigoletto is an Opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian Libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based
External links
- The Monuments of Upper Egypt, 1877: (excerpt: discovery of the Serapeum, in English)
- Mariette and the Serapeum at Saqqara
- egypt4eternity.com Information on the Mariette Pacha exhibition at Boulogne-sur-Mer, France - 2004
References
Budden, Julian (1981). The Operas of Verdi, Vol. 3. London: Cassell, 163-187. ISBN 0-304-30740-8.
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