Author Description

A GIANT AMONG ADVENTURERS AND EXPLORERS Among the noted explorers and adventurers of the great age of discovery, few can compare with the Great Belzoni. No study of the modern exploration of ancient Egypt is complete without his extraordinary work. Once a circus strongman, trained as an engineer, he spent many years on the Nile in Egypt and Nubia studying the ancient ruins and shipping antiquities back to Europe. Though once considered a tomb robber, recent re-evaluations of Belzoni have given him credit for his remarkably keen powers of observation and, for the Victorian period, careful excavation methods and recording. A larger-than-life character, Belzoni was a true adventurer-explorer during a time of nationalist competition between the European powers for the best antiquities. This exciting and detailed account of his two journeys to Egypt and Nubia is a treasure of Egyptology.