Wojcech Kolataj and Grzegorz Majcherek
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774160769
- eISBN:
- 9781936190034
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774160769.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This book describes the excavation and preservation of three early Roman villas in Egypt's ancient port city of Alexandria. Chronicling the work of the Polish Archaeological Mission in Alexandria, ...
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This book describes the excavation and preservation of three early Roman villas in Egypt's ancient port city of Alexandria. Chronicling the work of the Polish Archaeological Mission in Alexandria, this book gives an account of how these ancient dwellings were unearthed, and how the famous mosaic floors were brought to light two thousand years after they were laid. With the expert guidance of the archaeologists responsible for the excavation, the reader is led through layers of clues reaching ten meters below today's street level, and to an in-depth appreciation of this extraordinary site's rich history. Drawing directly on their work with the Polish Archaeological Mission, the chapters describe in detail the excavation of the housing areas, as well as the baths, the gymnasia, and the theater that comprise the villa complex. The book reconstructs not only the villas themselves, with their magnificent mosaics, but also the history of how they were built and used, and ultimately how they were destroyed by fire.Less
This book describes the excavation and preservation of three early Roman villas in Egypt's ancient port city of Alexandria. Chronicling the work of the Polish Archaeological Mission in Alexandria, this book gives an account of how these ancient dwellings were unearthed, and how the famous mosaic floors were brought to light two thousand years after they were laid. With the expert guidance of the archaeologists responsible for the excavation, the reader is led through layers of clues reaching ten meters below today's street level, and to an in-depth appreciation of this extraordinary site's rich history. Drawing directly on their work with the Polish Archaeological Mission, the chapters describe in detail the excavation of the housing areas, as well as the baths, the gymnasia, and the theater that comprise the villa complex. The book reconstructs not only the villas themselves, with their magnificent mosaics, but also the history of how they were built and used, and ultimately how they were destroyed by fire.
Wafaa EL Sadik and Rüdiger Heimlich
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789774168253
- eISBN:
- 9781617978173
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774168253.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter recounts the author's initial visit to the Egyptian Museum after her return to Cairo. She was shocked by the miserable condition of the museum itself. In western travel guides it is ...
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This chapter recounts the author's initial visit to the Egyptian Museum after her return to Cairo. She was shocked by the miserable condition of the museum itself. In western travel guides it is said, at times dismissively, that the Egyptian Museum resembles a storeroom bursting at the seams. It is true that the most priceless artifacts are crowded close together. However, when the French architect Marcel Dourgnon designed the structure at the end of the nineteenth century, he could not have known that within only a few years an ever increasing number of archaeological missions would make more discoveries and finds than in all the years since the direction of Auguste Mariette in the antiquities department.Less
This chapter recounts the author's initial visit to the Egyptian Museum after her return to Cairo. She was shocked by the miserable condition of the museum itself. In western travel guides it is said, at times dismissively, that the Egyptian Museum resembles a storeroom bursting at the seams. It is true that the most priceless artifacts are crowded close together. However, when the French architect Marcel Dourgnon designed the structure at the end of the nineteenth century, he could not have known that within only a few years an ever increasing number of archaeological missions would make more discoveries and finds than in all the years since the direction of Auguste Mariette in the antiquities department.
Wafaa EL Sadik and Rüdiger Heimlich
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789774168253
- eISBN:
- 9781617978173
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774168253.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter details the author's introduction to a group of American women who wished to finance and undertake an excavation in Karnak. These women include television starlet Diane Smith, painter ...
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This chapter details the author's introduction to a group of American women who wished to finance and undertake an excavation in Karnak. These women include television starlet Diane Smith, painter and art dealer Mary Martin, photographer and writer Audrey Topping, former skeet-shooting champion Betje Carlson, and Gypsy Grave, a director of a private archaeological museum in Florida. They were five power women who had pulled strings to get permission for the first all-female archaeological mission. They set up the private Nile Foundation, for which they collected roughly $100,000 in sponsors' money by way of charity and fundraising events. The concession of the project had been obtained through the American Research Center in Egypt, and the standing committee of the antiquities administration had approved it only with the stipulation that it be strictly scientific.Less
This chapter details the author's introduction to a group of American women who wished to finance and undertake an excavation in Karnak. These women include television starlet Diane Smith, painter and art dealer Mary Martin, photographer and writer Audrey Topping, former skeet-shooting champion Betje Carlson, and Gypsy Grave, a director of a private archaeological museum in Florida. They were five power women who had pulled strings to get permission for the first all-female archaeological mission. They set up the private Nile Foundation, for which they collected roughly $100,000 in sponsors' money by way of charity and fundraising events. The concession of the project had been obtained through the American Research Center in Egypt, and the standing committee of the antiquities administration had approved it only with the stipulation that it be strictly scientific.
