The Doctor and the Pascha: An Italian Traveller & Draughtsman in Egypt and Sudan
About the Guest
Daniele Salvoldi (1982) is an Italian Egyptologist and archaeologist. He holds a PhD in Egyptology from University of Pisa (2011) with a thesis on traveler and epigraphist Alessandro Ricci (1792-1834), published by the American University in Cairo Press (2019). From 2014 to 2016 he was post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Ancient History of Freie Universität Berlin, working on a Historical GIS of Nubia. He has been teaching History of Architecture and Architecture of Egypt at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport since 2016. He also published a book on Roman Egypt (2016) and two more books will appear in 2020: a history of Nubia and a history of ancient Egypt. He is currently working on a reconstruction of an ancient Egyptian bark chapel that used to stand on Elephantine Island and that was destroyed in 1822.
About the talk
In 1817, a young physician named Alessandro Ricci left Italy with the hope of finding luck in Egypt. He introduces himself to the circles of wealthy Europeans and, in their service, begins a series of extraordinary journeys crossing deserts and jungles, meeting different peoples, following armies, and enduring hunger and thirst. He visits Sinai, Siwa Oasis and Nubia. He keeps himself busy copying as many monuments as possible and collecting ancient Egyptian artefacts, ethnographic objects, and hunting tropical birds. In the heart of Sudan he meets with Ibrahim Pasha, the adopted son of the Viceroy of Egypt, who is leading the Turco-Egyptian army in his conquest of the region. The Pasha is seriously ill with dysentery and Alessandro Ricci is credited with saving his life. He comes back home a hero, determined to publish his travel account and his beautifully executed drawings and watercolours, but the ghost of sickness is looming.
Group photo
