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Details

  • Format
    Book
  • Language
    ENGLISH
  • Series
    Excavations at Gîza
  • Year Published
    1953
  • Citation Text
    Hassan, Selim. Excavations at Gîza 8: 1936-1937. The Great Sphinx and its Secrets. Historical Studies in the Light of the Recent Excavations. Cairo: Government Press, 1953.
  • Author
    Selim Hassan (Bey), Egyptian, 1886–1961
  • Individual - Modern
    Ernest Budge, British, 1857–1934
    François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette, French, 1821–1881
    Gaston Camille Charles Maspero, French, 1846–1916
    Giovanni Battista Caviglia, Italian, 1770–1845
    Heinrich Ferdinand Karl Brugsch, German, 1827–1894
    Henry Reginald Holland Hall, British, 1873–1930
    James Henry Breasted, American, 1865–1935
    Ludwig Borchardt, German, 1863–1938
    Sir William Flinders Petrie, British, 1853–1942
  • Individual - Ancient
    Akhre (G 9120)
    Amenemipet
    Amenhotep III
    Ay
    Horemheb
    Inkaf (G 9090)
    May
    Merneptah
    Ramesses II
    Ramesses IV
    Seti I
    Thutmose III
    Thutmose IV
    Tutankhamen
  • Publisher
    Government Press

Tombs and Monuments 23

People 24

Ancient People

  • Akhre (G 9120)

    • Type Individual - Ancient
  • Amenemipet

    • Type Individual - Ancient
    • Remarks King of Dynasty 21 (buried in Tanis).
  • Amenhotep III

    • Type Individual - Ancient
    • Remarks Ninth king of Dynasty 18. prenomen: [nb-mAat-ra] Nebmaatre
  • Ay

    • Type Individual - Ancient
    • Remarks King of Dynasty 18. Objects found at Giza: Six faience finger ring fragments (bezels) (25-12-39 = MFA 27.954, 26-1-420, 26-1-546 = MFA 27.947, 26-1-743 = MFA 27.956, 26-1-744 = MFA 27.944, 26-2-100 = MFA 27.946) with cartouche of Ay; most found in debris of street G 7000.
  • Horemheb

    • Type Individual - Ancient
    • Remarks Last king of Dynasty 18, or first king of Dynasty 19. prenomen: [Dsr-xprw-ra stp-n-ra] Djeserkheperura; nomen: [mrj-jmn Hr-m-Hb] Horemheb
  • Inkaf (G 9090)

    • Type Individual - Ancient
  • May

    • Type Individual - Ancient
    • Remarks Overseer of works under Ramses II, active at Giza in Dynasty 19.
  • Merneptah

    • Type Individual - Ancient
    • Remarks King of Dynasty 19. Objects found at Giza: Limestone stela (24-11-243) with cartouche of Merneptah; found in street G 7000.
  • Ramesses II

    • Type Individual - Ancient
    • Remarks King during Dynasty 19 of ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom; ruled nearly 67 years and fathered over 100 children. Ramses fought a number of battles against foreign enemies, such as the Hittites and the Nubians, and built many temples and other monuments throughout Egypt and Nubia. Despite ruling over a thousand years after the pyramids were built and being buried far to the south in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, there is evidence that Ramses may have done some building, restoring, and/or usurping of earlier monuments at Giza. Prenomen: Usermaatre Setepenre.
  • Ramesses IV

    • Type Individual - Ancient
    • Remarks King of Dynasty 20. Objects found at Giza: unregistered block of relief
  • Seti I

    • Type Individual - Ancient
    • Remarks King of Dynasty 19. prenomen: [mn-mAat-ra] Menmaatre
  • Thutmose III

    • Type Individual - Ancient
    • Remarks King of Dynasty 18. prenomen: [mn-xpr-ra] Menkheperre
  • Thutmose IV

    • Type Individual - Ancient
    • Remarks King of Dynasty 18. prenomen: [mn-xprw-ra] Menkheperure. Restorations to Sphinx done in time of Thutmose IV. Objects found at Giza: Faience scarab (27-4-1272 = MFA 27.2022) and faience udjat amulet (28-3-58 = MFA 28.1381) with cartouche of Thutmose IV.
  • Tutankhamen

    • Type Individual - Ancient
    • Remarks King during Dynasty 18 of ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom; came to the throne at age nine and ruled nine years until his untimely death. His spectacular tomb, discovered in 1922 by Egyptologist Howard Carter in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, contained many rich treasures, which may be seen today in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Despite ruling over a thousand years after the pyramids were built, Tut and other kings of his dynasty continued to visit and venerate the sacred site of Giza, building small chapels and rest-houses, and setting up inscribed dedications to the Sphinx. Prenomen [nb-xprw-ra] Nebkheperure.

Modern People

  • Ernest Budge

    • Type Individual - Modern
    • Nationality & Dates British, 1857–1934
    • Remarks Sir; Egyptologist and orientalist; British Museum curator. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
  • François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette

    • Type Individual - Modern
    • Nationality & Dates French, 1821–1881
    • Remarks Pasha; Egyptologist; Professor; Archaeologist of Sphinx Temple. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
  • Gaston Camille Charles Maspero

    • Type Individual - Modern
    • Nationality & Dates French, 1846–1916
    • Remarks Sir; Egyptologist. Director of the Service des Antiquities. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1846-1916) French Egyptologist, of Italian origin; he was born in Paris, 24 June 1846, son of Miss Adèle Maspero; he was naturalized when very young and educated at the Lycée Louis- le-Grand, 1853-65, and the Ecole Normale, Paris, 1865-7; he was made Professor of Egyptoloy Ecole des Hautes Etudes, 1869, he gained Doct.-ès 1873; appointed professor of Egyptian Philology and Archaeology, Coll. de France, 1874; Maspero became interested in hieroglyphs at the age of 14 while still at school, and in 1867 met Mariette (q.v.), who gave him two newly discovered hieroglyphic texts to study which, he then translated in less than a fortnight; he published these the same year, but his career was temporarily interrupted when he went with a French family to Montevideo and worked on the Inca language Quichua; he returned to France and studied with de Rougé (q.v.); he married 1. Harriet Yapp, 1871 (d. 1873) 2. 1880 Louise Justine Elisabeth Madeleine Catherine Balluet d'Estournelles de Constant de Rebecque; he went to Egypt in 1880, as head of an archaeological mission which later became the IFAO, and organized the work of recording scenes and inscriptions in many important tombs, espec. in the Valley of Kings; he was appointed Director of the Bulaq Museum, succeeding Mariette, 1881-6; also of the Antiquities Service; Mariette when dying had been interested in the opening of the smaller pyramids and Brugsch (q.v.) had discovered and copied the texts in Pepi I and Merenre; Maspero continued this work and opened three more; in all he copied and translated 4,000 lines of inscription, making the first edition of these famous Pyramid Texts ; he was also involved in the removal of the Deir el-Bahari collection of mummies to Cairo Museum, 1881; it is impossible to list all of his great achievements here but the following must be cited: he arranged and catalogued the immense collections in Cairo Museum, regulated excavation throughout Egypt, inaugurated the systematic clearance and preservation of Karnak, and with Lord Cromer's help built up the then embryonic Antiquities Service with five inspectorates for different areas; Maspero returned to France 1886-99, and was again Director in Egypt, 1899-1914, when illness forced him to go back to France in July; under his direction Reisner (q.v.) undertook the Archaeological Survey of Nubia, 1907-9; he acquired many honours, Acad. des Inscriptions, 1883; Hon. Fellow, The Queen's College and Hon DCL, Oxford 1887; Hon. KCMG, 1909; Sec. Perpétuel, Acad. des Inscr., 1914; his activity, industry and learning were enormous, and he held the premier place in Egyptology in his generation; he edited the gigantic Cairo Catalogue which had reached 50 vols. at the time of his death, and the Nubian temples vols. which then numbered 12; he wrote on a very wide variety of subjects and the number of his published works listed in his bib. exceeds that of any other Egyptologist, c. 1200 items; many of these were small or else reviews, his principal works being, L'Inscripion dédicatoire du Temple d'Abydos, 1867; Hymne au Nil 1868; Une Enquête judiciaire à Thébes au temps de la XXe dynastie (i.e. Papyrus Abbott), 1871; Des formes de la conjugaison en égyptian antique en démotique et en copte 1871; Les Pronoms personnels en égyptien, 1872; Du genre épistolaire chez les Eyptiens de I'époque pharaonique, 1872; Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient, 1875, and many later- eds.; Mémoire sur quelques Papyrus du Louvre, 1875 Etudes Egyptiennes-Romans et poésies du papyrus Harris no. 500..., 1879; Etudes Eg.- Etude sur quelques peintures et sur quelques texts relatifs aux funérailles, with le conte d'Apôpi et de Soknouri, 1881; La Trouvaille de Deir-el-Bahari, with E. Brugsch, 1881; Les Contes populaires de L'Egypte ancienne ..., 1882; Guide du visiteur au musée de Boulaq, 1883; La Trouvaille de Deir-el-Bahari, 1883; L' Archéologie éyptienne, 1887, trans. by A. B. Edwards; Les Momies Royales de Deir-el-Bahari, fol., 1889; Trois années de fouilles dans les tombeaux de Thèbes et Memphis, fol., 1889; Catalogue du Musée Egyptien de Marseille, 1889; Histoire ancienne Egypte, Assyrie. 1890, trans. by A. Morton; Fragments de manuscrits coptes-thèbains provenant de, la Bibl. du Deir Amba-Shenoudah. 1892; Les Inscriptions des pyramides deSaqqarah, 4°, 1894; Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient classique, 3 vols., 4-, 1895, 1897, 1899, (trans, and ed. A. H. Sayce as The Dawn of Civilization -Egypt and Chaldea, 1896; The Struggle of the Nations - Egypt, Syria and Assyyia, 1896; The Passing of the Empires, 1900); Fouilles autour de la pyramide d'Ounas, with A. Barsanti, 1900; Guide du visiteur au musée du Caire, 1902; and many eds.; Causeries d'Egypte, 1907; Les Mémoires de Sinouhit..., 1908; New Light on Ancient Egypt, trans. E. Lee, 1908 Sarcophages des époques persane et ptolémaïque, Cairo Cat., 4°, 1908; Egypt: ancient sites and modern scenes, 1910; Essai sur I'art égyptien , 1912; Etudes de mythologie et d'archéologie ég., 8 vols., 1893, 1898, 1900; 1911, 1912, 1913, 1916; Les enseignemets d'Amenemhaît l et à son fils Sanouasrît Ier 1914; he also translated Ebers Egypt, 1880,1881, edited the works of Renouf (q.v.) and as a young man transcribed Champollion's Notices, Maspero's second wife died Paris, 22jan. 1953 aged nearly 100; he died in Paris whilst about to address a meeting of the Academy, 30 june 1916 H. Cordier, Bibliographie de Gaston Maspero, 1922, 127-35, enumerates a long list of obituary notices of Maspero, many with portraits; H. Cordier, Maspero en Amérique, 1920; AE (1916), 145-9 (W. M. F. Petrie); ASAE 16 (1916), 129-40 (portr. Daressy) BSAC I (I 936) 'Gaston Maspero et les études coptes', 27-36 (portr.) (H. Munier); (CRAIBL, 1918 (1917), 445-82 (R. Cagnat); EB IIth ed., 17, 848; EB 1968 ed., 14, 1023 (W. R- Dawson); JEA 3 (1916), 227-34 (portr.) (E. Naville); JEA 33 (1947), 'Letters from Maspero to Amelia Edwards', 66.-89 (portr.) (W. R. Dawson); JMEOS 1915-16,104 (W. M. Crompton); JRAS 1917, 629-31 (L. W. King); La Grande Enc. 23, 362-3 (H. M.); Larousse 7, 144 (portr.); Mélanges Maspero, 3 vols. (I934-53) Mem. IFAO tom. 66-8, Nation 103 New York (I 916), 176-7( J. H. Breasted); Petrie, 27 and passim; PSBA 38 141-5 (G. F. Legge); Réc. (1916), Ric. Trav. 38 (1916), 211-25 (portr.) (E, Chassinat); Rev. Arch. 5e ser., iv (I916), 172-6 (portr.) (E. Naville); Rev. de L'hist. des religions, Nov.-Dec. 1916, 031-264 (A. Moret); Rev. Hist. 1916, 434-40 (A. Moret); Sphinx 21 (1924), 1-11 (G. jéquier); WWWii, 710
  • Giovanni Battista Caviglia

    • Type Individual - Modern
    • Nationality & Dates Italian, 1770–1845
    • Remarks Caviglia was an early explorer of the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx.
  • Heinrich Ferdinand Karl Brugsch

    • Type Individual - Modern
    • Nationality & Dates German, 1827–1894
    • Remarks Pasha; Egyptologist. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
  • Henry Reginald Holland Hall

    • Type Individual - Modern
    • Nationality & Dates British, 1873–1930
    • Remarks British Museum; Egyptologist and historian. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
  • James Henry Breasted

    • Type Individual - Modern
    • Nationality & Dates American, 1865–1935
    • Remarks Egyptologist; Father of Mr. Charles Breasted; Visitor from Chicago. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
  • Ludwig Borchardt

    • Type Individual - Modern
    • Nationality & Dates German, 1863–1938
    • Remarks Egyptologist. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1863-1938) German Egyptologist; he was bom in Berlin, 5 Oct. 1863, son of Herman B. and Bertha Levin; he trained as an architect at the Technische Hochschule, 1883-7; he assisted in the Egyptian section of Berlin Museum 1887-8; between 1890 and 1897 he was in charge of building works at Konigsberg; Doctor hon. c. 1897; he studied Egyptology under Erman (q.v.) and first visited Egypt in 1895, working at Philae under Capt. Lyons(q.v.); following de Morgan's great project to catalogue the standing monuments of Egypt ,he inaugurated a less grandiose scheme in conjunction with Maspero (q.v.) for the great (Catalogue Général of Cairo Museum; he became attaché to the German Consulate in Cairo; Borchardt founded and directed the German Institute of Archaeology, 1907-28, on his retirement, he founded his own institute which later became the Swiss Institute; he also contributed a great many texts and much useful information to the Berlin Dictionary; using methods partly derived from Dorpfeld he excavated the sun temple of King Nyuserre at Abu Gurab, 1898-1901, and the pyramids of Abusir; he also excavated and established reconstructions of Amarna houses, 1913-14; Borchardt was the first person to make an intensive study of Egyptian architecture as a subject on its own; he also discovered the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose at Amarna and enriched Berlin Museum with many fine objects from this excavation; another interest of his was chronology; he was a member of the German Arch. Institute, 1898, and a bibliography of his writings, 214 nos., was issued in 1933 to celebrate his 70th birthday; he published, Die aegyptischen,.-, Pflanzensaule1897; Denkmaeler des Alten Reiches (ausser den Statuen) im Museum von Kairo, pt. 1, Cat. Gén., 1901; Das Re- Heiligtum des Konigs Ne-woser-re (Rathures), pt. 1, Der Bau, 1905; Zur Baugeschichte des Amonstempels von Karnak, 1905; Nilmesser und Nilstandsmarken, 1906; Das Grabenkmal des Konigs Ne-user-rec , 1907; Works of Art from the Egyptian Museum at Cairo. With explanations by L. Borchardt, 1908; Das Grabenkmal des Koenig Nefer-ir-ke3-rec, 1909; Das Grabdenkmal des Konigs S'a3hu-rec, 3pts, 1910, 1913; Statuen und Statuetten von Koenigen und Privatleuten im Museum von Kairo, Cat. Gén., 1911-36; Die Annalen und die zeitliche Festlegung des Alten Reiches der Aegyptischen Geschichte, 1917; Quellen und Forschungen zur Zeitbestimmung der Aegyptischen Geschichte, 3pts. 1917, 1935, 1938; Die Altaegyptische Zeitmessung 1920; altaegyptische Festungen an der zweiten Nilschnelle, 1923; Portraets der Koenigin Nofret-ete aus den Grabungen 1912/13 in Tell el-Amarna, 1923; Agypten. Landschaft, Volksleben, Baukunst, with H Ricke, 1930; Allerhand Kleinigkeiten ... zu seinem 70. Geburtstage am 3. Oktober 1933, 1933 Beitraege zur Aegyptischen Bauforschung und Altertumskunde, with Ricke, 1937; Die Entstehung des Generalkatalogs und seine Entwicklung in den Jahren 1897-1899, 1937; Aegyptische Tempel mit Umgang, 1938; he died in Paris, 12 Aug. 1938, and was buried in Cairo. ASAE 39 (1939), 43-7 (portr.) U. Leibovitch); Chron. d .Eg. 14 (1939), 141-3 U. Capart) JEA 24 (1938), 248 (G. Steindorff); NDB 2, 455 (H. Ricke).
  • Selim Hassan (Bey)

    • Type Author
    • Nationality & Dates Egyptian, 1886–1961
    • Remarks Egyptologist; Sub Director General. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1886-1961) Egyptian Egyptologist; born Mit-Nagi, 15 April 1886, he studied at the Higher Teacher's College, Cairo under Kamal (q.v.); in 1912 he became a teacher and in 1921 obtained a post in the Egyptian Museum as assistant keeper; he studied in Paris 1923-7 at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes; he was the first Egyptian to be appointed as a Professor of Egyptology in the Universitv of Cairo, 1928 - 36; he was later made Deputy Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service responsible for the care of all monuments in the Nile valley, 1936-39; Ph.D. Vienna University, 1935; stimulated by the archaeological work of P. E. Newberry (q.v.) and Junker (q.v.)he began an active career in excavations with the clearance of some of the Giza mastabas in 1929; the excavations carried on by him in this necropolis continued until 1939 by which time a great deal of digging had been achieved, published in 10 parts; he also cleared the Sphinx and its temple, for the first time completely digging out the great amphitheatre around it and ensuring that it would not be buried by send again so easily; he wrote a study on this work and on the temple of Amenhotep II here; in addition the so-called Fourth Pyramid or the palace-façade tomb of Queen Khent-kawes of the Fourth Dynasty was investigated and also the funerary town of the priests associated with it; he later worked on the Unas causeway at Saqqara and at the valley temple of this king, discovering some of the mastabas in this area and two great subterranean tombs dated to the Second Dynasty; his final excavations at Giza were carried out on the east and south faces of the Great Pyramid and at the mortuary temple of King Khufu, 1938-9; he also took part in the campaign to save the monments of Nubia, and wrote a report on this subject; he published about 53 books and articles on Egyptological subjects in English, French, and Arabic, Hymnes religieux du Moyen Empire, 1928; Le Poème dit de Pentaour et Le rapport officiel sur la bataiILe de Qadesh , 1929; Excavations at Giza, 10 pts., 1929-60; The Sphinx. Its History in the Light of recent Excavations, 1949; Report on the Monunents of Nubia,1955Excavations at Saqqara 1937-8, 3 vols., 1975; in Arabic Literature of Ancient Egpt, 2 vols.; Ancient Egypt from Prehistoric Times to the Age of Rameses 11, 6 vols.; he died in Giza, 30 Sept. 1961. AfO 20 (1963), 310 (H. Brunner); Archaeology 14, no, 4 (1961, 293; ASAE 58 (1964), 61- 84 (bibl.) (Dia Abou-Ghazi); Orientalia 31 (1962), 271; Goettinger Miszellen 76 (1984), 78-80; Reid, JAOS 105 (1985), 237, 241-44.
  • Sir William Flinders Petrie

    • Type Individual - Modern
    • Nationality & Dates British, 1853–1942
    • Remarks Father of British Egyptology.

Institutions 1