![]() ![]() ![]() “Mr Bankes said little, but was evidently disgusted by the accident, and set sail within a day or two afterwards, leaving me to witness Mr Belzoni's further operations respecting it. “Meanwhile the obelisk had been brought on rollers to the water's edge, and a boat below to receive it all hands were at work, and five minutes more would have sufficed to set it afloat when all at once the temporary pier built for it gave way under the pressure, and the monument plunged end long into the river almost out of sight.” (1) A striking descentīelzoni tried again with more success. The operation was fraught with difficulties and the first attempt to remove the obelisk ended in disaster. After starting out as a performing strong man at Sadler’s Wells, Belzoni had become a hydraulic engineer specialising in the excavation of Egyptian antiquities.īankes employed Belzoni to take the Philae obelisk back to his family home of Kingston Lacy in Dorset, England. On his second journey into Egypt in 1818-19, Bankes’ party included Henry Beechey, son of Sir William Beechey, the famous portrait painter Dr Alessandro Ricci Louis Linant de Bellefonds, a French midshipman and Giovanni Belzoni. ![]() Some steps were taken, even then, towards the removal of this monument but, for want of proper tackle, it was abandoned for that time.” (1) It was also during this short stay that he first brought to light the granite pedestal of the obelisk, which has more than twenty lines upon it in the Greek character this was buried altogether below the surface but the probable position of it was conjectured from the obelisk lying near the spot, and search was made there accordingly. “by the light of his candles at night found an inscription in it that had never been observed up to that time. Giovanni Finati acted as Bankes' guide and his travel journals give details of some of Bankes’ excavations. The island has since been flooded as a result of the building of the Aswan Dam. The pink granite needle was one of a pair in front of the Temple of Isis on Philae, an island in the Nile. The Philae obelisk was discovered by William John Bankes on his first journey into Egypt in 1815. The inscriptions on this obelisk helped Georgian scholars to understand Egyptian hieroglyphics. It shares its name with the Philae obelisk which stands at Kingston Lacy. The European Space Agency hopes that the information that it gathers will help scientists understand the early development of the Solar System. Philae, a robotic probe, landed on a distant comet today. ![]()
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