Henry Salt (Egyptologist)

Henry Salt ( born June 14, 1780 in Lichfield, † October 30, 1827 in Desouk in Alexandria ) was an English artist, traveler, diplomat, and Egyptologist.

Training and initial activities

Salt was born in Lichfield, the son of the physician Thomas Salt and his wife Alice Butt. He had a two year older sister Jane. His training as a painter, he began first in Lichfield and then she continued in London with Joseph Farington and John Hoppner. In 1802 he was hired as a secretary and designer at George Annesley, Viscount Valentia said.

Abroad

Henry Salt undertook a journey to the East, via the Cape to India, later examined the area around the Red Sea and visited in 1805 the Ethiopian highlands. In 1806 he returned to England. The drawings that Salt had made on his journey, to illustrate the travel report by Lord Valentia, Voyages and Travels to India (1809 ) were used.

On a mission for the government Salt returned in 1809 to Ethiopia back. His task was to find out which diplomatic and trade relations between the Tigraianern and the warlords ( Warlord ) Ras Wolde Selassie exist. After his return he published: A voyage to Abyssinia, and travels into the interior of country did, Executed under the orders of the British government in the years 1809 & 1810 Later he returned and resumed his friendship with Sabagadis. .

In Egypt

In 1815 he was appointed as Consul General to Cairo. During his time in Egypt he had a considerable collection of Egyptian artifacts together, including the head of a statue of Ramses II from the Ramesseum at Thebes, now Luxor, which he gave to the British Museum, and the sarcophagus of Ramses III. , Which the Louvre in Paris bought. Furthermore, he supported excavations in Thebes and Abu Simbel and was himself involved in important archaeological investigations as at the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. Giovanni Battista Belzoni Salt paid to conduct the excavations for him. On occasion Salts various murals were removed from the grave chapel of Nebamun and taken to London.

For his ability to decipher hieroglyphics, he earned praise from Jean -François Champollion.

Family

On October 10, 1819 Henry Salt married the daughter of Italian dealer, Pensa from Livorno. With her he became the father of two daughters Georgina Henrietta Annesley, who was born in June 1821 and Julia, who was born on March 10, 1823 and died on the 26th of the same month. His wife died on 15 April 1824, only 20 years after the birth of another daughter in puerperal fever and the baby also survived only slightly longer.

Works

• New journey to Abyssinia, in the years 1809 and 1810, Weimar, 1815 (online)
• Essay on Dr. Young 's and M. Champollion 's phonetic system of hieroglyphics; with some additional discoveries, by Which It 'may be Applied to decipher the names of the ancient kings of Egypt and Ethiopia, London, 1825. (online)