Belzoni

But one detail disturbs the regal impression: Beside the king's left foot, with all the subtlety of a Times Square billboard, appears the crudely carved name "Belzoni."

A Pre-Digital Tomb Raider Gerard Helferich 2011

Among the different tombs where this inscription was collected, that of Seti I, commonly called Belzoni’s tomb, has been chosen as the standard text.

Egyptian Literature Comprising Egyptian tales, hymns, litanies, invocations, the Book of the Dead, and cuneiform writings Epiphanius Wilson 1880

Belzoni's memoir sold briskly, though, and in London he was celebrated as an illustrious explorer and even "the Great Belzoni."

A Pre-Digital Tomb Raider Gerard Helferich 2011

To eliminate any question of ownership, Belzoni and Henry Salt took to incising their names directly on the relics.

A Pre-Digital Tomb Raider Gerard Helferich 2011

Belzoni didn't have the pharaonic fields to himself, however.

A Pre-Digital Tomb Raider Gerard Helferich 2011

As for Belzoni, Mr. Hume says, "he was only doing his job."

A Pre-Digital Tomb Raider Gerard Helferich 2011

If there is blame to be ascribed, Mr. Hume suggests that it be cast on Belzoni's employer, Henry Salt, and on Salt's wealthy patrons, who craved Egyptian objets to display at their country estates and in the august institutions on whose boards they sat, especially the British Museum, which purchased many of Belzoni's discoveries.

A Pre-Digital Tomb Raider Gerard Helferich 2011

With his Irish wife, Sarah, Belzoni arrived in Alexandria in June 1815.

A Pre-Digital Tomb Raider Gerard Helferich 2011

By 1819, Belzoni was fed up; he and the long-suffering Sarah returned to England.

A Pre-Digital Tomb Raider Gerard Helferich 2011

After Napoleon Bonaparte captured the Eternal City in 1797, Belzoni wandered Europe for a time, ending up in London, where he hoped to secure work as a hydraulic engineer.

A Pre-Digital Tomb Raider Gerard Helferich 2011