Giovanni Battista Caviglia

Giovanni Battista Caviglia (* 1770, † 1845) was an Italian captain and Egyptologist. He traveled extensively throughout the Mediterranean and became famous for his expeditions to Egypt, where he discovered some known artifacts.

During his tenure as captain, he met the British Egyptologists Richard William Howard Vyse and was hired by this. Together with John Shae Perring the two began excavations at the Pyramid of Menkaure, the Great Pyramid and the Pyramid of Chephren. Caviglia played in these works, although not decisive, but was able to gain experience in excavations.

With his work on the Great Sphinx of Giza, he started around 1816 and began the first excavations neuzeutlichen. While searching for an entrance to the Sphinx he came among other things, the chapel of the Sphinx and put this free completely, found two stelae left by Ramses II after his father's death at the Sphinx and an approximately 1 -meter fragment of the beard of the Sphinx, which he gave in 1818 to the British Museum. However, the Sphinx was quite exposed only 1925 - 1926 by the French engineer Émile Baraize ( 1874-1952 ).

Caviglia discovered in 1820 near Memphis, at the south entrance of the Ptah temple, the 12.88 -meter-long Colossus of Ramses II in 1837 exempt Caviglia together with Vyse and Perring access to the Great Gallery and the descent to the Cheops pyramid. Later this artifact of Mohammed Ali was donated to the British Museum, but the size of the statue prevented a shipment to England.