Women Travelers Who Shaped the Ancient World

In the 1800s, three women forever changed the study and understanding of ancient Egypt, so why has their legacy continued to be overlooked?

1864, British travel writer Lucy Duff Gordon Standing on top of her house Luxor TempleGazing out her window at the Libyan mountains from the west bank of the Nile, she basked in the sun while listening to the cacophony of brooding camels, braying donkeys and barking dogs below. She missed her family, whom she had left behind at home in London while she recuperated in Egypt’s hot desert climate to ease her tuberculosis symptoms. Maison de FranceThe French House, or French House, was built by the military in the area around 1815. She loved her self-described “Theban Palace” and wrote to her family almost daily from its balcony.

these Letters from EgyptA detailed account of her time in Egypt, published in book form a year later, Duff Gordon’s book, which vividly portrayed Egyptian politics, religious practices, and Duff Gordon’s relationships with her Egyptian neighbors, stood out as social and cultural commentary at a time when most women writers wrote fiction. Duff Gordon’s example of travelling and living alone in Egypt as an Englishwoman soon inspired other women travellers to do the same.

A little over ten years later, the novelist Amelia EdwardsInspired by the experiences of Lucy Duff Gordon, he visited Egypt and published a best-selling travel book. A thousand miles up the NileEdwards’ work attracted the interest of Emma Andrews, a wealthy American traveller who furthered Egyptian archaeology in the early 20th century, funding the excavation of dozens of tombs, many of which are still actively studied today.

The three women initially came to the country as tourists, but Egyptology (The Scientific Study of Ancient Egypt) And in doing so, they not only shaped our view of one of the ancient world’s most important civilizations, but also how early 20th century tourists traveled through Egypt.

The women stayed in Luxor for a few weeks in March of that year. Edwards was drawn to Duff-Gordon’s former home, but when she looked up at the bricks piled atop the temple, she was shocked by its condition. Duff-Gordon’s beloved “Palace of Thebes” had barely survived years of Nile flooding, but now it was barely habitable. Edwards went inside and to a window to look out over the river and the city of Luxor. Theban Plain There was one on the other side, too. Seeing the view Duff Gordon saw, Edwards wrote that it “adorned the room and made its poverty magnificent.” She dreamed of living there. “I wish that that wonderful view, with its infinite beauty of light and color and space, with its history and mystery, had always been before my window.”

Although this was Edwards’ only trip to Egypt, her poetic travelogue attracted countless women travelers to Egypt. One of the best-selling travel books of all timeEdwards’ narrative interweaves travelogue and meticulously researched history, providing vivid descriptions of the sights along the Nile. But unlike Murray’s guide, Edwards not only encouraged visitors to stop and see these monuments and sites, but also advocated for their preservation for future generations. The popularity of her book made the Pyramids of Giza, the Valley of the Kings, and other now-famous tombs essential stops for tourists to Egypt for the next 50 years, but more importantly, it was widely embraced by scholars, influencing the study and reception of these sites to this day.

The success of Edwards’ book led her to Egyptian Exploration Society (EES) Launched in 1882, inspired by Edwards’s goal of preserving the Egyptian monuments of the Expedition, the EES raised funds for excavations through its subscribers, mostly middle-class British citizens, who received annual reports of the excavations and the remains. Report With maps, lists, drawings and new scholarly research, the report has enlightened and informed public perception of ancient Egypt for nearly 150 years.

At the same time, “A Thousand Leagues Along the Nile” stimulated and benefited from the rise of package tours with archaeological tourism as a theme. Travel agency They began taking people on all-inclusive vacations across Europe. Popular with the upper middle classes and aristocracy, these package tours encouraged people to travel to destinations like Athens and Rome to not only explore modern culture, but also see ancient ruins and learn about their historical importance. The argument went that if you were going to spend big bucks on vacation, you should also learn from it and support the local economy.

Cook’s company expanded to Egypt in 1869, offering archaeological tourism in North Africa to the general public, as well as to women who wanted to travel safely alone. By the late 1880s, Cook’s company was taking over 5,000 people up the Nile each year, closely following Edwards’ own itinerary. Due to the popularity of the holiday, the company was managing Nile boat trips for all visitors.

In 1889, 15 years after Edwards left Egypt, Andrews and his partner Theodore Davis, two American millionaires and archaeological collectors, arrived in Egypt with Edwards’ book and several of Cook’s pamphlets. The couple were members of the American chapter of the EES, which had spread to America only a few years after its founding. Inspired by Edwards’ travel writings, the pair quickly rented and outfitted a private houseboat and set off on their first trip up the river.

Andrews traveled up the Nile, up and down the Nile, aided by Cook’s pamphlets, stopping at all the places Edwards (later Cook) recommended. They quickly fell in love with Egypt, as did Duff Gordon and Edwards. For the next 25 years, the couple traveled up the Nile every year. They were the quintessential archaeological tourists: upper-class people, on holiday, and at the same time, eager to learn about the ancient sites they came across. They bought ancient artifacts and amassed a vast collection for themselves. Andrews was influenced both by his own travels and by the exhortation in Edwards’s travels that “we are always learning, there is always more to learn; we are always seeking, there is always more to find.” From 1900 until they left Egypt in 1914, Andrews and Davis paid for and personally excavated 25 to 30 tombs on the Nile in Egypt. Valley of the Kingssome of the most influential archaeological investigations in the country.

According to Egyptian excavation laws at the time, most of the remains Cairo Museum, The copies became the private property of patrons and archaeologists. In 1905, the two men and their team Grave number 46Queen Tiye ( Pharaoh Amenhotep III) and great-grandparents Tutankhamun. At the time, the tomb was the best-preserved Egyptian tomb yet discovered, with most of its grave goods still inside. The coffin contained a magnificent mask that is still on display in Cairo, and just behind it lies the second intact chariot ever found.

While the artifacts are important, Andrews’ diary is crucial to understanding the site. Her records provide a detailed record of her and Davis’ activities over a quarter of a century. She meticulously documented the excavations, complete with maps and daily records of visitors and artifacts found. Davis used many of Andrews’ diaries in his site reports, but did not fully acknowledge her work. Importantly, Andrews included Egyptian laborers, antique dealers, ship captains and sailors, who were often ignored by many male authors. Her perspective is fundamental to understanding centuries of Egyptian history.

Andrews’ legacy lives on in New York City. The Metropolitan Museum of ArtShe and Davis each donated large parts of their collections and estates, including more than 1,600 Egyptian artifacts, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where millions of visitors each year view artifacts such as canopic vases unearthed from the controversial tomb. No. 55Due to Davis’ sloppy excavation work, archaeologists are still unable to determine whose mummy was inside. Funeral water bottle of King Tutankhamunis one of the few Tutankhamun remains outside of Egypt. Andrews’ research has made these fragments of ancient Egyptian life and death accessible to scholars and schoolchildren, providing a rare glimpse for Westerners into how the ancient Egyptians respected their dead.

Our modern interest in and understanding of ancient Egypt is indebted to these three forgotten women. Like their men, their work was controversial; they were relatively well-off and profited professionally from traveling to Egypt, living there, and extracting ancient artefacts from their historical homeland. Yet while their legacy has often been ignored, they laid the foundations of modern Egyptology and influenced our understanding of the ancient world from the very beginning.