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Giovanni Belzoni/Narrative of Operations and Recent Discoveries in Egypt and Nubia

One of Belzoni’s first archaeological adventures involved relocating a massive bust of Ramesses II (1304–1237 B.C.), which he then painted as a watercolor scene. The ambitious Italian swiftly progressed to conducting his own excavations. During his three years in Egypt, Belzoni discovered three royal tombs, became the first person in modern times to enter the pyramid of Khafre at Giza, journeyed to the little-known oasis of Siwa, near the modern border of Libya, and identified the ruins of the ancient city of Berenice on the Red Sea.