Giuseppe Ferlini (April 23, 1797 – December 30, 1870

Epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

from his gravestone in the Certosa di Bologna (see picture).) was an Italian soldier turned

treasure hunter Treasure hunter is the physical search for treasure. For example, treasure hunters try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with market value. This industry is generally fueled by the market for antiquities. The practice of treasure ...

, who robbed and desecrated the

pyramids of Meroë The Pyramids of Meroë are part of the larger group of Nubian pyramids, built at the time of the Kushite Kingdom over a period close to a millennium. Near Meroë, three royal cemeteries were constructed: * South Cemetery features nine royal pyr ...

Biography

Born in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, in 1815 he travelled across

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

, and later he reached

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

where he joined the Egyptian Army during the conquest of Sudan. In 1830 he became surgeon major. Under the army, he stayed at

Sennar Sennar ( ar, سنار ') is a city on the Blue Nile in Sudan and possibly the capital of the state of Sennar. It remains publicly unclear whether Sennar or Singa is the capital of Sennar State. For several centuries it was the capital of the F ...

and then at

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

where he met the Albanian merchant Antonio Stefani., p. 166 Later he decided to desert and devote himself to treasure-hunting, determined to either "return home penniless, or carrying unprecedented treasures". Along with Stefani, Ferlini organized an expedition that left for

Meroë Meroë (; also spelled ''Meroe''; Meroitic: or ; ar, مرواه, translit=Meruwah and ar, مروي, translit=Meruwi, label=none; grc, Μερόη, translit=Meróē) was an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east ...

on August 10, 1834. Having asked and obtained from the

Governor-General of the Sudan This is a list of Egyptian and European colonial administrators (as well as leaders of the Mahdist State) responsible for the territory of the Turkish Sudan and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, an area equivalent to modern-day Sudan and South Sud ...

, Ali Kurshid Pasha, the permission to perform excavations at Meroë, and spurred by legends from local workers who talked about 40 '' ardeb'' of gold, he started to raid and demolish – even using explosives – several pyramids, which were found "in good conditions" by

Frédéric Cailliaud Frédéric Cailliaud (9 June 1787 – 1 May 1869) was a French naturalist, mineralogist and conchologist. He was born, and died, in Nantes, where he was the curator of the Natural History Museum of Nantes from 1836 to 1869. He travelled in E ...

just a few years earlier. At

Wad ban Naqa Wad ben Naga (also Wad Ban Naqa or Wad Naga) is the name of an ancient town of the Kushitic Kingdom of Meroë in present-day Sudan. The village lies on the eastern bank of the Nile, about 80 kilometers upstream of Meroë and about 40 km so ...

, he leveled the pyramid N6 of the ''

kandake Kandake, kadake or kentake ( Meroitic: 𐦲𐦷𐦲𐦡 ''kdke''),Kirsty Rowan"Revising the Sound Value of Meroitic D: A Phonological Approach,"''Beitrage zur Sudanforschung'' 10 (2009). often Latinised as Candace ( grc, Κανδάκη, ''Kandak� ...

Amanishakheto Amanishakheto was a Kandake of Kush. She seems to have reigned from 10 BC to 1 AD, although most dates of Kushite history before the Middle Ages are very uncertain. In Meroitic hieroglyphs her name is written "Amanikasheto" (''Mniskhte'' or ''( ...

starting from the top, finding treasure composed of dozens of gold and silver jewelry pieces. Overall, he was responsible for the destruction of over 40 pyramids. Having found the treasure he was looking for, in 1836 Ferlini returned home. A year later he wrote a report of his expedition containing a catalog of his findings, which was translated to French and republished in 1838. He tried to sell the treasure, but at this time nobody believed that such high quality jewellery could be made in Sub-Saharan Africa. The treasures were finally sold in Germany: part were purchased by king

Ludwig I of Bavaria en, Louis Charles Augustus , image = Joseph Karl Stieler - King Ludwig I in his Coronation Robes - WGA21796.jpg , caption = Portrait by Joseph Stieler, 1825 , succession=King of Bavaria , reign = , coronation ...

and are now in the State Museum of Egyptian Art of Munich, while the remaining – under suggestions of Karl Richard Lepsius and of

Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen Christian Charles or Karl Josias von Bunsen (25 August 1791 – 28 November 1860), also known as , was a German diplomat and scholar. Life Early life Bunsen was born at Korbach, an old town in the German principality of Waldeck. His fa ...

– was bought by the

Egyptian Museum of Berlin The Egyptian Museum of Berlin (german: Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung) is home to one of the world's most important collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts, including the iconic Nefertiti Bust. Since 1855, the collection is a part of t ...

where it still is. Tomb Giuseppe Ferlini Bologna

Ferlini died in Bologna on December 30, 1870, and was buried in the Certosa di Bologna.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferlini, Giuseppe 1797 births 1870 deaths Italian explorers Military personnel from Bologna Italian surgeons Archaeological theft Egyptian surgeons Physicians from Bologna