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In: Travel Writing·History - Ancient·Archaeology & Anthropology
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Richard Lepsius’s work is a sprawling record of the Prussian scientific expedition of 1842‑1845, dispatched by King Frederick William IV to investigate the ancient monuments of Egypt, the Sinai peninsula, and Ethiopia. The opening pages lay out the mission’s royal patronage, its collaboration with Alexander von Humboldt, and the ambitious plan to publish a monumental series of plates and texts on Egyptian and Ethiopian antiquities. What follows are the author’s letters, reproduced almost as they were written to the king, ministers, and fellow scholars, documenting each stage of the journey, from the steamer’s departure in September 1842, through detailed visits to the pyramids of Giza, the labyrinth of Saqqara, the temples of Thebes, and the remote sites of Nubia and Sinai. The letters intertwine logistical notes, observations of local customs, and reflections on the monuments themselves, offering a comprehensive picture of the expedition’s progress and its scholarly aims.
The narrative voice is that of a 19th‑century scholar‑explorer, combining meticulous description with a personal, often lyrical tone. Lepsius writes in formal German‑influenced English, peppered with scientific terminology and occasional romantic flourishes when recounting sea‑sights or desert vistas. Readers who relish historic travel literature, the early development of Egyptology, or detailed accounts of archaeological fieldwork will find this volume rewarding; it appeals especially to those interested in the intersection of royal patronage, scientific ambition, and the vivid realities of mid‑century exploration.
The opening · free to read
THE DEEPEST RESPECT AND GRATITUDE.
AUTHOR’S PREFACE.
The purpose of the Scientific Expedition, sent out in 1842 by his Majesty the King, was an historical and antiquarian research into, and collection of the ancient Egyptian monuments, in the valley of the Nile, and the peninsula of Sinai. It was by royal munificence provided with the means for remaining three years; it rejoiced in the favour and interest of the highest person in the realm, as well as in the most active and kindly assistance of Alexander Von Humboldt; and under such a rare combination of fortunate circumstances, it completed its intended task as fully as could have been hoped. A “Prefatory account of the expedition, its results, and their publication,” (Berlin, 1849, 4to.) was published with the first parts of the great monumental work, which is brought out at the command of his Majesty, in a manner corresponding to the importance of the treasures brought back, and contains a short abstract of the more important results of the Expedition. The work, there announced, “The Monuments of Egypt and Ethiopia,” will contain more than 800 plates, of the largest size, of which half are already prepared, and 240 plates already published, will lay before the public these results, as far as concerns the sculptures, the topography, and architecture, while the accompanying text will explain them more fully.
It however, appeared necessary (without taking the purely scientific labours into account), to lay before a larger circle of readers a picture of the external events of the expedition, of the relative operations of its members, of the obstacles, and the favourable circumstances of the journey, the condition of the countries through which it passed, and their effect upon the actual design of the undertaking; finally to offer a few observations on the remarkable monuments of that most historical of all countries, as must continually recur to the well prepared traveller, and which might rouse others who have already perceived the importance of the newly founded science, to a more active interest. If, besides, it be of the greatest utility for a just understanding of these scientific labours which are gradually coming to the light, and which have been caused by the journey; that the circumstances under which the materials for them were collected, I think that the publication of the following letters requires no farther excuse, as they make no pretension to any particular literary perfection, or descriptive power, or, on the other hand, to be a strictly scientific work.
The letters are almost in the original form as they were written, sometimes as a report direct to his Majesty the King, sometimes to his Excellency, the then Minister of Instruction, Eichhorn, or to other high patrons and honoured men, as A. Von Humboldt, Bunsen, Von Olfers, Ehrenberg, and sometimes to my father, who followed my progress with the most lively interest. Several of them were immediately printed in the papers on their arrival in Europe, particularly in the Preussische Staatszeitung, and thence in other papers. The unessential changes mostly relate to the editing. All the additions or enlargements have been added as notes; and among these belong particularly the arguments and grounds as to the true position of Sinai, which, since then has been proved in various quarters, and again disproved, and again concurred in. The thirty-sixth letter, on the arrangement of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, turns certainly from the subject; but we may allow the exception, as this point is not alone interesting to Berlin, but in all points the examination is worth while, where there is any resemblance to or comparison with modern art.
It is proposed to add a second part to these letters, in which several treatises, written during the expedition, or on different points relating to Egyptian art or history, will be published.
BERLIN, 2nd June, 1852.
CONTENTS.
LETTER I.--ON BOARD THE ORIENTAL STEAMER, SEPT. 5, 1842 Page 1
Sea voyage to Alexandria.
LETTER II.--ALEXANDRIA, SEPT. 23, 1842 6
Malta.--Gobat.--Isenberg.--Krapf.--Alexandria.--Mohammed Ali.
Alexandria.--Pompey’s Pillar.--Cleopatra’s Needle.--Collection of Werne.--Departure from Alexandria.--Sais.--Nabarîeh.--Cairo. --Heliopolis.--The king’s birth-day kept at the pyramids.--View from the pyramid of Cheops.
LETTER IV.--AT THE FOOT OF THE GREAT PYRAMID, JAN. 2, 1843 24
Pyramids of Gizeh.--Private tombs.--Sphinx.--Storm of rain.--Christmas.--Life in the Camp.
LETTER V.--PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH, JAN. 17, 1843 32
The hieroglyphical tablet on the pyramid of Cheops.--Historical gain.
LETTER VI.--PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH, JAN. 28, 1843 37
The oldest royal dynasties.--Tomb of Prince Merhet.--Private tombs.--Destruction by the Arabs.--Oldest obelisk.
H. R. H. Prince Albrecht of Prussia.--Rejoicings in Cairo.--Return of Pilgrims.--Mulid e’ Nebbi.--Doseh.--Visit of the prince to the pyramids.--Oldest use of the pointed arch in Cairo.--Oldest round arch in Egypt.--Night attack at Saqâra.--Judgment day.
Departure for the Faiûm.--Camels and dromedaries.--Lisht. --Meidûm.--Illahun.--Labyrinth.--Arab music.--Bedouins.--Turkish khawass.
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