Giovanni Battista BelzoniDied 3 Dec 1823 at age 45 (born 5 Nov 1778).Italian circus performer and archaeologist who went to England in 1803, earning a living as a circus strong man. He first travelled to Egypt in 1815 to sell hydraulic engines for use in irrigation. By 1817, he turned to excavating Egyptian archaeological sites for their treasures, though with scant regard for incidental damage to less desirable items. He obtained the colossal sculpture of the head of Ramses II for the British Museum. In the Valley of the Tombs of Kings, he discovered the tomb of Seti I and removed the aragonite sarcophagus for the Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Belzoni cleared the entrance to the great temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, was first to penetrate the pyramid of Khafre at Giza, and identified ruins of the city of Berenice on the Red Sea. |
