Sarah Belzoni

Sarah Belzoni was the English (or Irish) wife of the explorer and early archaeologist Giovanni Belzoni whom she met when he first came to England from Italy in 1803. A very attractive young woman, she joined him in his theatrical performances. When he left for Egypt in 1815, she accompanied him, sharing his difficult life and travel. They lived together in the Tomb of Seti I which he discovered, but she remained in Aswan when he cleared the entrance to the temple of Abu Simbel further south. She wrote a chapter of 42 pages on the women of Egypt, Nubia and Syria for his book: Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids...and of a Journey to the Coast of the Red Sea. She had indeed traveled by herself in 1818,through the Holy Land, disguised as a Mamluk youth, but was also able, over the years, to visit with native women due to being a woman. Thus Sarah Belzoni published some of the earliest accounts of domestic life among the Turks and Arabs. She also distributed bibles to Egyptians in Rosetta to spread the Christian Gospel among the natives, without much success. After her husband's death in 1823, Sarah opened an exhibition in London to succeed one he had successfully mounted some years earlier. Hers was not a financial success, however and she became quite destitute for years until Parliament granted her a civil list pension in her old age.

Author of biography: William H. Peck
Includes bibliography? No

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Keywords: Giovanni Belzoni, Henry Salt, Seti I, Valley of the Kings, Chephren, Giza, Abu Simbel, Siwa Oasis, Berenice, Red Sea, Nubia, Pyramids, Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Charles Dickens, Women of Egypt, Nubia, Syria, Palestine, Turks, Arabs, Soubra, Holy Land, Mount Zion, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock, Temple Mount, Rosetta, Libya, chameleons, Piccadilly, Brussels, Parliament, civil list pension, Channel Islands, Jersey