Luxor4u

For those who can receive BBC4, there is a documentary on Wednesday 28th March on Flinders Petrie.
The EES chair Chris Naunton is the presenter.

Let's hope people don't really believe the title of the program - a little over the top, methinks! He was perhaps the first person to systematise archaeological excavations here, using what we would consider to be modern methods, but not the man who discovered Egypt - that honour could well be given to Herodotus. Or Champollion!

Are you for real, here Stan,........did either of these gentlemen dirty their clothes when they VISITED Egypt. Now if you had mentioned Maspero or Mariet, then yes, we may have a debate.

I thought the documentary was excellent. I didn't relaise he had done so many excavations in Palestine (mostly in modern day Israel) nor was I aware that he died in Palestine and is buried on mount Zion. Well worth watching.

that honour could well be given to Herodotus. Or Champollion!

You have got to be having a laugh Stan! Did you forget to add the smilie?

Herodotus based the majority of his writings on hearsay and plagiarised the rest from earlier writers, as for Champollion, he may have written ( controversy about contributions from other sources aside! ) the first usable hieroglyphic dictionary but when he came to Egypt it was as a treasure hunter as can be seen by the Louvre's collection!

Even Petrie's excavations are being brought into question as is testified by the re-excavation of Tausret's temple on the west bank in Luxor. Read the notes on the new excavation then read Petrie's and you will see what I mean.

No, I wasn't having a laugh! Herodotus for all his historical inaccuracies helped make Egypt's civilisation known to the Greek (and later Roman) world. Not all Greeks who visited Egypt were told fables - Pythagoras (also a 5th century figure) developed much of his mathematical theories from his time in Egypt. As for Champollion, without his discovery (along with Young) of how to read heiroglyphics, excavators would be digging up things without the slightest understanding of the symbols on them. OK, translation would be possible later, no doubt, but he was the first to do the job.

Well I thought it was an excellent documentary with just the right balance of information on this fascinating man. Chris Naunton certainly has the makings of a good TV historian.
Perhaps the title 'The Man Who Recorded Egypt, would have been more appropriate, but he was certainly a pioneer in the field of archeology.
The story about the head was bit gruesome I had heard rumous about it but didn't know they were actually true.

Don't stop there, D!

Well, apparently Petrie donated his brain to medical science. When he died in hospital in Palestine his head was removed and his body buried on Zion. His wife travelled home to England with his head in a container on her lap. The preserved head is stored in London still awaiting attention.

P.S. There has been so much interest in the EES and the Petrie Museum following the programme that their site crashed earlier due to so many people trying to log on. That has to be good news for both concerns.

:Phew: Curiosity sated; thanks D! I wonder if she was charged excess baggage?

Good news re your PS. if only such groups/places could advertise more, they would grow enormously, as there is such an interested community out there living in ignorance of what's available.

I thoroughly enjoyed the programme and was surprised about how much time he spent in Palestine. I also didn't realise he was buried there.
I have decided to try and get to visit his grave when I am in Palestine later this year, and may just also leave a tiny bit of pottery as others had done.

I agree here the program was quite good, but the trouble with these modern day things, they skip over the very interesting items like some of his students,........ Carter and T.E.Laurence among others and what he thought about them. The best story though was about little Dr Margaret Murray., and their affair, while Hilda was having her first child, not forgetting the gossip at Oriental House at that time.

I do agree A- four, there were many aspects of his amazing life which were not covered. I guess that it was just too much to cram into an hours programme.

Torrent file: The Man Who Discovered Egypt

thanks Keefy x