Philosophy
Abu Simbel - Ground Level of Great Temple Facade
Here are 1,055 photographs from 1905-1907 taken by James Henry Breasted as supplied by The Oriental Institute [Chicago].
Introduction:
These 1055 photographs were taken by Professor James Henry Breasted and his colleagues on two reconnaissance trips to Nubia during the years 1905-1907. It was Professor Breasted's wish to record the historical monuments and inscriptions of ancient Nubia, for, as Charles Breasted wrote in the biography of his father, Pioneer to the Past, "the meticulous recording of long-known, steadily perishing, and largely unpublished historical monuments above ground had about it almost none of the excitement and fascination popularly associated with digging for buried treasure. But he was more than ever convinced that however much the excavations of men like Petrie, Davis, Quibell and others might contribute to Egyptology, he himself could render it no greater service than to copy while they were still legible the historical records in the ancient monuments of Egypt."
Breasted's first campaign to Nubia began in November, 1905, and ended in April, 1906. Professor Breasted's travels with Mrs. Breasted, Charles, an American engineer, Victor Persons, and a German photographer, Friedrich Koch, began in Alexandria, where they boarded a train to Cairo. From there they traveled by rail to Luxor (Thebes) and then southward to Aswan. Breasted and his crew worked for forty days photographing and copying inscriptions at Abu Simbel and then moved on to their last stop at Wadi Halfa. Charles Breasted said that by April 3, 1906, his father had finished copying the historic inscriptions in all the pre-Ptolemaic temples of Lower Nubia, the region between the First and Second Cataracts. Breasted had accomplished this by a new method, whereby Mr. Koch would photograph an inscription and make blueprints from the negatives, which Breasted would then collate with the original. They often had to work in almost intolerable conditions, by candlelight in the dark rock-hewn tombs, with their heat, bats, and foul air.
On his second trip Breasted went along the upper Nile in the northern Sudan, beginning again at Cairo, in October of 1906. Accompanying him on this reconnaissance were photographer Horst Schliephack and English Egyptologist Norman de Garis Davies, an excellent copyist and draftsman. The expedition began this season at Meroe, where Breasted and Davies began key plans of the pyramids. The group then moved fifty miles by caravan and train southwestward to Naga'. Charles Breasted has reported that the monuments recorded there, together with those of Meroe, were all that had survived of the history of Nubia as an independent nation. Next, after a caravan march of five hours, the expedition photographed the Nubian palaces at Musauwarat and then traveled by rail to Khartoum, arriving in the midst of the Moslem Bairam festival. From there they moved on to Abu Hamed, at the head of the Fourth Cataract, and then followed the entire 400 mile westward swing of the Nile from the foot of the Fourth Cataract to the foot of the Third by boat. Along the Fourth Cataract stops were made at Kareima, Gebel Barkal (Napata), and Dongola. At the head of the Third Cataract on the Island of Tumbos the expedition photographed the five triumphal stelae of Tuthmosis I. Other stops along the way included Dulgo, Gebel Gurgod, and Soleb. At Kosheh the group came ashore for difficult land travel, including the pass of Doshat. Stops were made at the Island of Sai, Sedeinga, Amara, Tangur, Semna East (Kumma), Semna West, the Island of Uronarti, and Sarras. They reached their last stop, Wadi Halfa, on March 5, 1907, the day on which Professor Breasted proudly wrote in his journal, "At Halfa we were 1000 miles up the Nile. From a point nearly 1000 miles still farther up, beginning with the southernmost ancient monuments in the Nile valley-that is, nearly 2000 mile from the Mediterranean-the expedition has this year carried the work of exploration and recording down to our last year's 1000-mile starting point."
The 1905-1907 Breasted Expeditions To Egypt and The Sudan
Click a location on the map and the photographs will be displayed.
[Use the search engine above to discover more features on Egyptology. Use key words like Egypt, Egyptian, Howard Carter, James Henry Breasted, King Tut.]
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Philosophy
James Henry Breasted--photographs from 1905-1907
Abu Simbel - Ground Level of Great Temple FacadeHere are 1,055 photographs from 1905-1907 taken by James Henry Breasted as supplied by The Oriental Institute [Chicago].
Introduction:
These 1055 photographs were taken by Professor James Henry Breasted and his colleagues on two reconnaissance trips to Nubia during the years 1905-1907. It was Professor Breasted's wish to record the historical monuments and inscriptions of ancient Nubia, for, as Charles Breasted wrote in the biography of his father, Pioneer to the Past, "the meticulous recording of long-known, steadily perishing, and largely unpublished historical monuments above ground had about it almost none of the excitement and fascination popularly associated with digging for buried treasure. But he was more than ever convinced that however much the excavations of men like Petrie, Davis, Quibell and others might contribute to Egyptology, he himself could render it no greater service than to copy while they were still legible the historical records in the ancient monuments of Egypt."
Breasted's first campaign to Nubia began in November, 1905, and ended in April, 1906. Professor Breasted's travels with Mrs. Breasted, Charles, an American engineer, Victor Persons, and a German photographer, Friedrich Koch, began in Alexandria, where they boarded a train to Cairo. From there they traveled by rail to Luxor (Thebes) and then southward to Aswan. Breasted and his crew worked for forty days photographing and copying inscriptions at Abu Simbel and then moved on to their last stop at Wadi Halfa. Charles Breasted said that by April 3, 1906, his father had finished copying the historic inscriptions in all the pre-Ptolemaic temples of Lower Nubia, the region between the First and Second Cataracts. Breasted had accomplished this by a new method, whereby Mr. Koch would photograph an inscription and make blueprints from the negatives, which Breasted would then collate with the original. They often had to work in almost intolerable conditions, by candlelight in the dark rock-hewn tombs, with their heat, bats, and foul air.
On his second trip Breasted went along the upper Nile in the northern Sudan, beginning again at Cairo, in October of 1906. Accompanying him on this reconnaissance were photographer Horst Schliephack and English Egyptologist Norman de Garis Davies, an excellent copyist and draftsman. The expedition began this season at Meroe, where Breasted and Davies began key plans of the pyramids. The group then moved fifty miles by caravan and train southwestward to Naga'. Charles Breasted has reported that the monuments recorded there, together with those of Meroe, were all that had survived of the history of Nubia as an independent nation. Next, after a caravan march of five hours, the expedition photographed the Nubian palaces at Musauwarat and then traveled by rail to Khartoum, arriving in the midst of the Moslem Bairam festival. From there they moved on to Abu Hamed, at the head of the Fourth Cataract, and then followed the entire 400 mile westward swing of the Nile from the foot of the Fourth Cataract to the foot of the Third by boat. Along the Fourth Cataract stops were made at Kareima, Gebel Barkal (Napata), and Dongola. At the head of the Third Cataract on the Island of Tumbos the expedition photographed the five triumphal stelae of Tuthmosis I. Other stops along the way included Dulgo, Gebel Gurgod, and Soleb. At Kosheh the group came ashore for difficult land travel, including the pass of Doshat. Stops were made at the Island of Sai, Sedeinga, Amara, Tangur, Semna East (Kumma), Semna West, the Island of Uronarti, and Sarras. They reached their last stop, Wadi Halfa, on March 5, 1907, the day on which Professor Breasted proudly wrote in his journal, "At Halfa we were 1000 miles up the Nile. From a point nearly 1000 miles still farther up, beginning with the southernmost ancient monuments in the Nile valley-that is, nearly 2000 mile from the Mediterranean-the expedition has this year carried the work of exploration and recording down to our last year's 1000-mile starting point."
The 1905-1907 Breasted Expeditions To Egypt and The Sudan
Click a location on the map and the photographs will be displayed.
[Use the search engine above to discover more features on Egyptology. Use key words like Egypt, Egyptian, Howard Carter, James Henry Breasted, King Tut.]
- Pity Party: Who Do You Feel Sorry For Today?
I feel sorry for the Chinese Jenny Craig. Here it is New Year's, their busiest season of the year, but in the year of the pig, who wouldn't use it as an excuse to find a different resolution? I feel sorry for Pamela Anderson. Anna Nicole has now...
- Deceased--christiane Desroches Noblecourt
Christiane Desroches Noblecourt November 17th, 1913 to June 23rd, 2011 The Associated Press... Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, a pioneering French Egyptologist who prodded Gen. Gamal Abdel Nasser to help salvage Nubia's vaunted antiquities, has...
- Karl Richard Lepsius...german Egyptologist
Karl Richard Lepsius December 23rd, 1810 to July 10th, 1884 I dedicate this to my London colleague [an Egyptologist] who has been stalled for hours with her retired Oxford don father at Heathrow Airport do to bad weather. They are on their way to Luxor...
- Pbs Palomar Documentary
The Moon Is Up by Alfred Noyes The moon is up, the stars are bright. the wind is fresh and free! We're out to seek the gold tonight across the silver sea! The world is growing grey and old: break out the sails again! We're out to see a Realm of...
- Classic Egyptology
James Henry Breasted The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) represents the efforts of an international group of Assyriologists, museum curators and historians of science to make available through the internet the form and content of cuneiform...