1
Q
Royal Danish Arabia Expedition
A
- 1761–1767
- Carsten Niebuhr - only survivor of the expedition
- Major expedition sent by King of Denmark, starting in Istanbul, travelling through Egypt, Arabia, India, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and back to Istanbul
2
Q
Napoleon Bonaparte
A
- Leads a military expedition to Egypt, when a general, not yet an Emperor in 1798, in order to capture it and cause problems for the British in India
- Brings with him a scientific committee to record the natural history and ancient monuments in Egypt as part of a great encyclopedic record of the country
- Expedition ended in failure- British throw French out after a few years but Description De L’Egypte written over multiple volumes, 1809-1822
- Tomb plans sanitize the monuments - straighten out lines in tomb designs, not fully accurate but still helpful due to the damage and destruction of the last few centuries
- Primary source on Egypt for many years, especially for pictures of genuine Egyptian material, and the first maps of Egypt
3
Q
Rosetta Stone
A
- Stone tablet which has the same message written in Hieroglyphic Egyptian, Demotic Egyptian and Greek
- Issued at Memphis, Egypt in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V
- Tax decree written when the Greeks were ruling 2nd c BC
- Found in 1799, led to deciphering of both forms of Egyptian
- Physicist Thomas Young began working on it but the final breakthrough was made by Jean-François Champollion in 1822
4
Q
Franco-Tuscan Expedition to Egypt
A
- 1828
- Led by Rosalini and Champallion - both died soon after arriving home, and due to disputes between their estate holders, two separate works were published instead of the join one they had planned - French and Italian copies are not exact duplicates
- Fully funded by state and publications also funded
- Contrasts British model where expeditions and publications are self-financed as the state doesn’t care
5
Q
Biblical Archaeology
A
- Problematic term - come to mean the archaeology of Palestine, not necessarily of the bible, and not necessarily religiously motivated
- Danger is that stories from the bible are forced onto sites to fit their narratives
6
Q
(American) Palestine Exploration Society
A
- 1870-84
- Aimed far more at excavating the bible from a religious perspective, unlike the Palestine Exploration Fund
7
Q
Society of Biblical Archaeology
A
- British organisation, 1870-1919
- Important figures include Birch and Renouf - curators of Egyptology in the British Museum and presidents of the Society
- Biblical archaeology in the late 19th century embraced the whole of the Near East as it was all mentioned in the bible somewhere
8
Q
Hisarlık (‘Troy’)
A
- Excavated by Heinrich Schliemann over a period of 20 years 1871-1889
- Site in Anatolia thought to be Troy
- Found layers of earlier cities, one of which he thought was Troy, although this has since been found to be too early compared to when the Iliad was set - did prove the existence of a pre-Bronze Age Aegean
- Found jewellery set here which he name Priams Treasure - named after a character form the Iliad but still too early
9
Q
Amelia Edwards
A
- 1831-1892
- British novelist and travel writer
- Produced A Thousand Miles up the Nile, which becomes a best seller
- Became personally involved with Egypt, and recognised the level of destruction of monuments to fuel the desires of collectors in the west, and the damage to monuments for INdustrialisation
- Recognised the chronic lack of money of the Egyptian Antiquities Service to deal with this
- Campaigned for a British organisation to deal with these issues
- Led to the founding of the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1882
10
Q
Post 1920
A
- Division of the Ottoman empire makes things difficult due to different rules in different places
- Tutankhamun, 1922
- Michael Ventris, deciphers Aegean Script Linear B in 1950
11
Q
End of Paganism and Languages
A
- Mycenae abandoned at the end of the Bronze Age
- Babylon fell in the 6th century BC
- Archaeological sites destroyed, go out of use
- Sites reinterpreted e.g. Wadi el-Sabua, turned into a church - buildings preserved but ancient decoration destroyed
- Egyptian paganism ends 4th c AD in Philae, the last stronghold of paganism and the last hieroglyphic texts in 394 AD - longer than cuneiform
- Our connection to the past suffers as ancient texts and languages go out of use - largely due to association with paganism in the face of Christianity
- Last known Cuneiform text: AD 75, and not a well known or widely used by this point
- Texts effectively become unreadable
12
Q
Impact of Christianity/ Islam
A
- Triumph of Islam mid 7th century
- Even more hostile to the pagan past than Christianity
- Area largely made inaccessible to foreigners, particularly after the crusades, until the early 16th century when the Mediterranean comes under the rule of the Ottoman Empire
- Provides stability and access to the eastern Med by Western travellers, particularly to Egypt and to religious sites in Israel/Holy Land
13
Q
Principle sources in the 17th Century
A
- Limited knowledge and understanding of the Med Past
- Key sources: The Old Testament, Manetho, Herodotus, Homer, Diodorus, Caldaeus - some largely mythological, many only exist in extracts from other books, and contradict eachother
- Herodotus focused on Mesopotamia but rewrote dubious stories told to him by tour guides
14
Q
18th century Travelers
A
- Visitors become more organised
- Fredrick Norden - sent to Egypt by king of Denmark in 1738
- Irish Bishop Richard Pococke sent in 1738 to Egypt, Palestine and Israel (Holy Land sites)
- Pococke one of the first to attempt architectural sketches of what he sees, including the Pyramids of Giza including cross sections and tomb chambers and the Sphinx
- Issue with his depictions is that he is not familiar with Med style of art and architecture - they have been taught to draw using classical principles so all pictures come out looking more Greek/Roman/Classical than accurate - stylized
15
Q
Georg Friedrich Grotefend
A
- 1775-1853
- Partial decipherment translation of Old Persian Cuneiform
- Start made but not deciphered properly until significantly later on
16
Q
National Collections
A
- Early 19th century - beginning of national museums such as British Museum (created in mid 18th c) with large national collections of Med material
- Large amount of this material came from Napoleon and was seized by the British in 1801 when French surrender
17
Q
Muhammed Ali Pasha
A
- Governor of Egypt 1805-1848
- Egypt part of Ottoman Empire but he wanted to make country as independent as possible - had relationships with leaders of great powers and their consul generals, who were interested in the past and Egypt’s antiquities
- Ali gave many permission to take and excavate antiquities - on behalf of themselves to sell to their countries, not on behalf of their countries - often disappointed
18
Q
Key figures (consuls)
A
- Bernardino Drovetti (1776-1852) - collection ended up in Turin and Paris Italian consul
- Henry Salt - 1780-1872 - collection ended up in Paris and London British consul
19
Q
Giovanni Batistta Belzoni
A
- Italian employed by Henry Salt
- Circus strong man (7ft!), Engineer, Magician, All round legend
- Wrote one of the first detailed accounts of excavations in Egypt - considered a tomb robber but actually good for his era
- Bought many antiquities back to the British Museum
- Belzoni’s own exhibition held in the Egyptian style Egyptian Hall, Picadilly, 1812-1905
20
Q
Claudius Rich
A
- 1786-1820
- First identification of Mesopotamia 1813
- First detailed account of Mesopotamian sites 1818
21
Q
Copying Monuments
A
- Privately financed expedition by Robert Hay and produced a number of plans and copies of standing monuments
- Sir John Gardner Wilkinson spent 12 years living in and around the tombs in Egypt, taking note and copying what was written on and in them
- Standing monuments were generally sketched and copied rather than being taken
22
Q
Karl Otfried Muller
A
- 1797-1840
- Key figure in creating field of Altertumswissenschaft (Science of Antiquity)
- Proposed a kind of methodology for how to deal with classical civilizations
- Myths: have kernel of historical truth
- Reliance on written sources
- Positivism: what is observed archaeologically is historically important and matches what is narrated in written sources
23
Q
Henry Rawlinson
A
- Decipherment of Old Persian Cuneiform, 1837
- Inscription from Behistun, Iran: trilingual cuneiform inscriptions similar to Rosetta Stone
- 1940s - along with 3 others, deciphered Babylonian Cuneiform from this
24
Q
Palestinian Site Identification
A
- Edward Robinson
- 1838 - identified many sites and ruins using the bible - most correct and have stood the test of time
- Bible (still) key/most complete history of Palestine
25
Paul-Emile Botta
- Brought back to France monumental finds from the Assyrian site of Khorsabad, Mesopotamia 1843-1846
- Many finds in the Louvre
- Many finds sank in the Euphrates
26
Carl Richard Lepsius
- Expedition to Egypt and Nubia sponsored by the King of Prussia, 1843-45
- First professor of Egyptology in Germany
- Expedition and publications fully funded by the state
- His work made one size bigger than the French Description De L'Egypte to show of - much more accurate water colour and line drawings than Description De L'Egypte - not drawn from a Classic style viewpoint
27
Austen Henry Layard
- Excavations at Nineveh, 1847-49
- Contemporary of Khorsabad with similar artefacts
- These end up in the British museum
- After this period (1850s) - development of native/ indigenous archaeology - before this, excavations were mostly foreign travelers who received permission as a diplomatic favour
28
Augusta Mariette
- 1821-1881 -
- Attempts in Egypt in 1830s to stop the exportation of artefacts but this was largely ignored - attempt at recognising and protecting antiquities due to Ali's independence bid
- 1850s - appointment of Mariette as the first director of Antiquities - first time an Antiquities organisation had been set up in the East Med
- From then, formal regulation of work in Egypt, initially with very few resources
- Mariette undertook excavations himself, and the material stayed in Egypt
29
Bulaq Museum, Cairo
- Founded by Mariette in the 1850s
- First national antiquities museum in the near east, took in material excavated by Mariette
- Predecessor to the Egyptian Museum
- Mariette buried at the steps of the Egyptian Museum, and his body moves when the body moves - sarcophagus surrounded by busts of Egyptologists
30
Alexander Rhind
- Little foreign work in Egypt as Mariette closely guarded it
- Scottish, one of the earliest scientific archaeologists in the near east
- 1833-1863, died young so isn't as important a figure as he could have been
- Worked in Western Thebes 1855-63
31
Palestine Exploration Fund
- Founded in 1865
- Primarily surveyed sites in Jerusalem
- Starting to look at things in a systematic way, with a long term plan of work and a regular journal publication to publish results of work and related studies
- More than just archaeology - included natural history, geology and culture of Palestine and the Levant
32
Heinrich Schliemann
- 1822-1890
- Set out to find Troy, the city that is the basis for Homer's Illiad
- His wife Sophia famously photographed wearing a jewellery set he found at the site of Hisarlik, known as Priams Treasure
- Moved on to Mycenae, following an ancient text, Roman travel writer Pausanius (AD 110-180) Description of Greece, looking for the grave of Agamemnon
33
Mycenae
- Excavated by Heinrich Schliemann 1874-76
- Due to Pausanius's Description of Greece, thought to be the site of the grave of Agamemnon and other Homeric heroes
- Found Grave Circle A containing a series of intact burials, some with gold masks on the faces of the bodies - one of which he claimed was Agamemnon
- He suggested that these Homeric heroes were real - but dates don't work - still too early
34
Wilhelm Dorpfeld
- 1853-1940
- Assistant to Heinrich Schliemann
- More of a trained academic, less of a dreamer - took Schliemann's excavations on in a more scientific manner and aided in the publications of Schliemann's results
- Aided in excavations of Tiryns 1884-85
35
Christos Tsountas
- 1857-1934
- One of the first Greek Archaeologists in Greece
- Produced The Mycenean Age in 1897
36
George Smith
- 1840-1876
- Discovered in 1873 that some of the Cuneiform tablets bought back to the British Museum by Layard from Nineveh related to a great flood, while he was curator of the British Museum
- 'Flood Tablet' thought to be a parallel to Noah's Ark story in the Bible
- Only a fragment existed - Daily Telegraph asked readers to sponsor Smith to go find the other pieces - the money was raised, he went, and he found them
- Mesopotamian story of the flood was very similar to the biblical one - 2 aspects of the same tradition
- This was translated and published in a pamphlet, which sold remarkably well
37
Flinders Petrie
- 1853-1942
- Set out in 1881 to do the first archaeological survey of the Pyramids of Giza
- Father was a pyramidiot and his son proved his theories to be false even though his father sent him to prove them right
- Goes on to develop scientific archaeology in Egypt
38
The Egypt Exploration Fund
- Campaigning by Amelia Edwards led to the founding of the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1882, featuring individuals such as Reginald Stuart Poole and Sir Erasmus Wilson
- People paid a subscription, which went to the cost of that years excavations, and they would receive a publication of the results of the excavations in return
- Included the Old Testament narrative in their aims as rich people who had an interest in archaeology were often Vicars - first few sites excavated had a biblical connection to snare Christians in, then started excavating non-Biblical sites when they had already paid
39
Gaston Masspero
- Sucessor to Mariette, also French
- Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service
- Formalised organisation of the whole thing, got more excavations done and licensed other foreign expeditions alongside the EEF
40
Ahmed Pashs Kamal
- 1851-1923
- One of the first Egyptian Egyptologists
- Suffered heavily from racism within the archaeological community - this was apparent thoroughout the 1920s so few Egyptians made it to senior ranks within the Antiquities service
41
Archaeological Survey of Egypt
- 1890, Percy Newberry
- Funded by the Egypt Exploration Fund
- Important as previously, only the interesting or beautifully decorated parts of monuments or tombs were recorded - this recorded everything - entire monuments, even if parts are seemingly identical
- Started working in the neglected center of Egypt, at sites such as Beni Hasan, and volumes were drawn up showing detailed drawings
42
Ecole Pratique d'Etudes Bibliques
- 1890, French institute in Palestine
- Religious, in contrast to the Palestine Exploration Fund, but actually the fact that it's run by monks makes it more objective as they are conscious of being thought biased
- Founded by Dominican Monks such as Lagrange
- A community of brothers who study the Bible in the land of the Bible, combining reason and faith, intellectual life and spiritual life
- Accommodates students and researchers from all over the world and from diverse backgrounds
43
Archibald Sayce
- First Professor of Assyriology position created for him at Oxford, 1891
44
Study in universities
- Archibald Sayce, 1891 first Professor of Assyriology at Oxford,
- Flinders Petrie 1892, first Edwards Chair of Egyptology at UCL - endowed chair
45
American Schools of Oriental Research
-1895 - important umbrella organisation for work in Syria-Palestine
Jointly Sponsored by key academic societies:
-American Oriental Society
-Archaeological Institute of America
-Society of Biblical Literature
-18 other learned bodies, included Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Columbia Universities
46
Egyptian Prehistory
- Discovered in 1896
- Flinders Petrie and his pupil James Quibell find the first prehistoric remains of the Naqqada culture
- 1894-98, Emile Ameleneau finds monuments from the time of Unification at Abydos, taking Egyptian prehistory back centuries
47
Oriental Institue
- Established at the University of Chicago at the end of the 19th century
- James Henry Breasted made friends with John D Rockefeller Jr probably the richest man in the world at this time, who endows the building to them and funds much of their work in the near East, including the Palestine Archaeological Museum and Luxor House in Egypt as a headquaters for the OI
48
German Oriental Society
- James Simon
- Excavations in Egypt and Mesopotamia
- Robert Koldewey undertakes one of the first proper excavations at Babylon 1898-1917, uncovering the Gates of Babylon which is now in a museum in Berlin
- Walter Andrae works at Assur 1903-1913
- Arthur Evans works at Knossos 1900 onwards, revealing Minoan archaeology for the first time
- Hugo Winkler carried out 1907 investigations at Bogazkoy which unveil the Hittite empire for the first time
Med Past
flashcards
Decks in class (11)
# Cards
