Release date is 2025-11-20

Rick Tonsing, Chuck Greif, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

"Narrative of the operations and recent discoveries within the pyramids,…." by G. Belzoni is a travel and archaeological narrative written in the early 19th century. It chronicles an engineer‑explorer’s excavations and removals in Egypt and Nubia—pyramids, temples, and tombs—alongside journeys to the Red Sea and the western oases, with vigorous commentary on Egyptian architecture and customs. Expect first‑hand accounts of opening monuments, transporting major antiquities, and debating issues such as the origins of arches and the site of the Temple of Ammon.

The opening of the book combines a forthright preface with bold claims and the start of Belzoni’s travels. He insists on writing his own record, defends his views on Egyptian arches and the Labyrinth, and argues the Oasis el Cassar is the seat of Jupiter Ammon. The narrative then begins with his arrival at Alexandria during a plague, confinement in quarantine, and a first journey up the Nile to Cairo, where he visits the pyramids and meets the seasoned traveller Burckhardt. Injured by a Turkish rider and caught amid a military revolt in Cairo, he turns to his original mission: building a hydraulic machine for the Pasha at Soubra, giving glimpses of court life, local festivities, and street violence (including two near‑fatal encounters). After the machine’s public trial and a disastrous accident sour its prospects, he pivots decisively to antiquities, agreeing with the British consul to attempt removal of the “young Memnon” bust. He then sets off upriver with a small crew and his wife, securing permissions, noting trade and harsh practices in Upper Egypt, and reaches Dendera, where his vivid, awed description of the grand temple’s preserved reliefs and zodiac closes the opening section. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1822