The Infatuated Lover of Egyptian Antiquities Who
Discovered Temples of Deities and Abydos, Sheik al-Balad Statues

Ever since the French Expedition to Egypt ( 1798 - 1781 ), that has unraveled many hidden The treasures of the ancient Egyptian civilization, this heritage had attracted the attention of many Egyptologists particularly from Europe.
Of those, there comes French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, a curator at the Louvre Museum, Paris, who was sent on an educational mission to Egypt, where he fell in love with its monuments and ultimately opted to stay there for ever.

Mariette's dedicated work led to the discovery of a host of significant ancient Egyptian antiquities and archeological sites. Chief of these were the Serapium Temple, Sheikh al- Balad statue at Saqqara, terrace of Tee and Chephren's statue at Giza, in addition to his excavations at Abydos, Hebu, San al- Hagar.

Infatuation with Egypt
Mariette was first spell- bound by ancient Egyptian antiquities, when in his early youth he first visited the municipal library at his little home town, where he read some books on ancient Egyptian antiquities and saw, in display at the library, coffers of a mummy acquired in 1837.
He abandoned his job as a teacher at the local school and took up a job at the Louvre . At the age of 19, he was sent on a mission to Egypt to collect Coptic and Syriac manuscripts fro Egyptian monasteries. But he changed his plan, owing to the refusal by the Coptic Patriarchate in Cairo to give him access to manuscripts.

Discovery of the Temple of Deities
Thereupon, Mariette embarked onto the arduous task of archeological excavations in Egypt. Strolling through Saqqara , a few miles from Giza , his attention was caught by the sight of a head of a sphinx, projecting out of the sand. Nearby, he found a buried stone showing supplications to god Osiris - Ibis inscribed in hieroglyphics. This gave him the clue to the discovery of the Temple of Deities ( Serapium ). Excavations made under his supervision led to the discovery of 140 statues and some tombs. In one of these, seven statues , including an elaborate statue of a squatting scribe, were found. At a distance of 200 metres, there was found a semi-circular seat adorned with 11 Greek statues , in addition to a small temple for Ibis a statue for deity Bes.

Mariette's involvement in excavating for monuments at the Serapium site was a hard time for him . Some of his compatriots sent spies to sniff around for news about his finds. Things became even worse for him when the Egyptian government on June 4,1851 issue a decree to suspend his excavation works and seize antiquities discovered.
Far from being dispirited, Mariette, however, proceeded with his work under the veil of secrecy and sometimes during the night. On February 12, 1852, he managed to strike out a deal with the Egyptian government to allow him to pursue his excavations openly.

In the first cellar of the Temple of Deities, 24 stone coffins, that might have been pillaged in earlier epochs, were found void. The second cellar comprised 28 mummies of Ibis , found intact, the body of Khaimwas , son of Ramsis II, together with some stupendous jewelry lying by , in addition to a funerary temple and cellars dating back top various epochs. These valuable finds were dispatched to Paris for display at the Louvre Museum. According the then prevailing practice of sharing archeological finds , his lot was some 2,500 pieces of antiquity

Protector of Antiquities
Mariette was later appointed by Khedive Said Pasha as Commissioner of Egyptian Antiquities , a post created for the first time in the Egyptian government. In this capacity, Mariette instituted necessary means to protect Egyptian antiquities against illicit trade and smuggling. He even attempted to stop the Khedive donating ancient statues jewelry and other valuable pieces of antiquity to his European visitors. After only one month in office , he ordered excavations to be started in 30 new sites. In order to control potential illicit operations , oftentimes he personbally conducted detection and surveillance works for monument pillage and smuggling attempts.

In 1863, one of Mariette's most significant dreams came true; the Egyptian Museum was created and opened to the public. Initially, the museum was set at a poor site at Boulac. Mariette himself lived in a humble house south of the museum.

Mariette' Profile
As an individual, Mariette was a man of high sensitivity and piercing insight into archeological search. One of his assistants related an interesting scene he witnessed during the course of unearthing Abydos Temple in 1859. With his customary insight, Mariette directed his crew to the location where he thought the temple wall ought to be found. The crew, who had been working for him for three weeks then, were stunned to see the targeted wall unfold only after a few strokes of the ax, unraveling inscriptions of great value. An elderly resident of the village approached Mariette, saying, " Throughout my life, I have never left this village, but never have I heard of the presence of a wall in this place. How old are you then to know that ? !" .
" I'm 3000 years old." replied Mariette calmly.

At the Louvre, his supervisors , were , however, dissatisfied with his protracted stay in Egypt . When asked to return home , he willingly opted to stay over in Egypt to pursue his great mission in the field of archeological excavations .