Tutankhamun Centenary : Howard Carter : A Backward Glance on Sakkarah 1905

A  Dramatis Personae of those who were  caught up in the  Sakkarah incident of 1905

Howard  Carter’s Fall from Grace At  Sakkarah in 1905

On  8 January 1905:    Howard Carter’s whole world  fell apart after a fracas at the sacred site of  Sakkarah.  At the time Carter was  Chief Inspector of Antiquities  for Upper Egypt.    He  subsequently  left the Antiquities Service forever in October, 1905  and  spent a  few years in  Cairo and Luxor in  self –imposed  exile.

Those caught up in Sakkarah incident of 1905

Howard Carter : ( 1874-1939) :   Archeologist. Co-discoverer of Tutankhamun' s Tomb  -  the ultimate patsy, suffered all his life from  an acute form  of  autism

Evelyn Baring,  Lord Cromer :  ( 1841-1917) :  Old school British diplomat,   1^st Consul- General  Egypt 1883-1907,  based Cairo; believed in the superiority of  his kind : Nick name ‘Over-Baring’

Theodore M Davis : ( 1837-1915)  A firey  American millionaire, lawyer sometime patron of Carter at  Thebes (Luxor) - Owned digging rights in the Valley of the Kings from 1902  until  1914

Monsieur  de la Bouliniere : French Consul-General based in Cairo

Sir William Garstin :  ( 1849-1925 )  Senior Official in Egyptian Public Works Dept based in Cairo

Percy Newberry : ( 1869-1949) : Artist, Botanist and  Archeologist  Carter’s longest  associated work  colleague from c1891

Gaston Masparo :  ( 1846- 1916) : Author, academic in Paris,   Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Department 1899-1914

Sir William Flinders Petrie:  ( 1853-1942) :  Veteran Archeologist who introduced Carter ( and many  others ) to field  excavation work in Egypt. His style of working a dig  became a classic  model

James Quibell : ( 1867-1935)  :  Oxford graduate, Author,  British Archeologist : Like Carter sometime a pupil of Petrie.  Held various Chief Inspector posts alongside Carter  ; Keeper Cairo Museum 1914-1923

Arthur Weigall :  ( 1880-1934)  : Author, Archeologist, Journalist : Like Carter  sometime a pupil of Petrie. A pugnacious,  pushy figure.  He had a love-hate relationship with Carter.   Held  Chief Inspector Posts after Carter’s  resignation. He was chief critic of the Carnarvon deal with The Times newspaper over the media rights on Tutankhamun’s tomb

Extract from “ Carnarvon, Carter and Tutankhamun Revisited

 The Hidden Truths and Doomed Relationships”

By William Cross, FSA Scot

To be published 4 November 2016