Avraham Norov – a one-legged Egyptologist without fear and reproach
In the Metropolitan Museum in New York you can see a whole mastaba tomb that belonged to the courtier Perneb. And it could have stood in our Hermitage, if our kings had been smarter!!!
One day he took me aside and promised me a silver fourpenny piece every first of the month if I would keep a sharp lookout for the "one-legged sailor" on the beach, and would immediately let him know of his approach. It often happened that when I went to him after the first of the month to get my money, he would only sniffle and look me up and down with a fixed eye; but before a week had passed he would change his ways, bring me my fourpenny piece, and repeat the order to keep a sharp lookout for the "one-legged sailor."
"Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson
"Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson
People and story. Sometimes absolutely incredible and amazing things happen in our lives. For example, it is believed that the prototype of the one-legged pirate John Silver in Stevenson's "Treasure Island" was our compatriot - Abraham Norov, who, being an official for special assignments on the flagship of the Russian squadron of Admiral Senyavin, found himself in Portsmouth in 1827. It is clear that a one-legged Russian sailor, and Norov really was missing his left leg up to the knee, could not help but attract the attention of the city's residents, and well ... Stevenson found out about him, and then brought him out as a character in his book. But who was this Norov, and why was the story about him connected with the history of Russian Egyptology? Meanwhile, there is a very direct connection between them, and what kind of connection - this is what our story will now follow.
Mastaba inside. All this was cut out, carefully packed, transported across the ocean, and then assembled…
And it happened that Avraam Sergeevich Norov (1795-1869) - the future Russian statesman, scientist, traveler and writer, and also an actual privy councilor, brother of the Decembrist V. S. Norov and the poet A. S. Norov, and also the Minister of Public Education, was born, received an education and chose a military career for himself. And not just chose, but found himself in the very crucible of the Patriotic War of 1812.
There, while participating in the Battle of Borodino and commanding a platoon of two cannons, he was wounded by a cannonball in his left leg, after which the rest of his leg had to be amputated at the knee. By some miracle, he avoided sepsis and gangrene and… continued to serve until 1823 and left military service with the high rank of colonel.
Well, and then, already in the civil service, he even sailed together with Senyavin. The reason for this was this: Norov knew many languages, for the mastery of which, apparently, he had some special innate talent. After all, he knew English, and French, and German, and also Spanish, Italian (including a rare dialect of the island of Sicily), Czech and Lusatian, as well as Arabic, ancient Greek and ancient Hebrew. Moreover, he was also the first in Russia to master the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing and learn to read hieroglyphs.
This is what Perneb, the king's favorite, was like. Pharaoh Senusret I loved him so much that he awarded him with such an impressive mastaba. I wish I could have been inside at least one of these…
The man, apparently, was not just brave, but truly courageous, because in 1834, when the plague epidemic raged in Egypt, taking thousands of victims daily, he went to Cairo to study Egyptian antiquities. Elementary caution should have forced him to return to Russia as soon as possible, especially since at that very time the Russian traveler and orientalist, Norov's friend, Gusev, had already died of the plague in Egypt. However, Norov stayed. Moreover, he traveled not only around Egypt, but also visited Nubia. And all this... without one leg, on a prosthesis, for which the local Arabs, who had never seen such a miracle, nicknamed Norov "the father of the wooden man."
And this is A. S. Norov in a court uniform and with all the regalia. Portrait by Ksawery Kaenevsky
And when he returned, he wrote two whole volumes of "Travels in Egypt and Nubia", and described in them not only his travel impressions, but also devoted much attention to Egyptian history and culture. And since he knew many ancient languages, he read Greek and Roman authors who wrote about Egypt in the old days, and could compare their descriptions with what he saw with his own eyes. Having studied the works of Champollion, he learned to read hieroglyphic inscriptions so well that he began to understand Egyptian texts and the names of pharaohs without looking in a dictionary. That is, he could immediately say to whom this or that obelisk or statue belonged.
Moreover, he sincerely admired the civilization of the ancient Egyptians and their buildings and wrote that only a “giant people” could create such a thing, that they were erected “by extraordinary power, by a numerous people, in memory of important events…” He also drew attention to the unconditional fact of the influence of ancient Egyptian culture and art on the culture and art of Ancient Greece, and through it – on Rome and the entire European civilization.
It is important, and even very important, that the monuments of Ancient Egypt described by him in many details have not been preserved in full. And today we can imagine them only from his descriptions. Firstly, the Turks and Arabs continued the practice of barbaric destruction of ancient structures, using them as building material. Secondly, they were broken down by European and American tourists or shameless archaeologists. Thirdly, the same temples on the island of Philae are now forever buried under the waters of the Nile due to the construction of the Aswan Dam. Therefore, Norov's descriptions are now one of those sources by which alone these monuments can be recreated. His masterfully made drawings from life also help in this.
Norov had a truly active nature and managed to climb the pyramids, where not every person with two legs is capable of climbing. Having been there, he went down into the dungeons, studied the tombs, in a word, did things that were completely incredible for ordinary people. Norov's companion, an employee of the Russian embassy in Cairo, A. O. Duhamel, wrote:
“Together with Norov I climbed the Great Pyramid of Giza and I am still amazed at how he could make such a difficult climb with his wooden leg.”
Norov in civilian dress. Actual privy councilor, member of the State Council, "father of the wooden man".
The journey to the "Valley of the Kings" - through the ridge of the Libyan Mountains - almost cost him his life.
"In many places we had to dismount from our horses and donkeys, which often fell to the ground even without riders. In difficult defiles I exchanged my horse for a donkey, but even this cautious animal once stumbled on the edge of a precipice; I only just managed to jump off, or rather fall, to the other side; the donkey owed its salvation to a single crevice that held it, and my Bedouins with difficulty pulled it back onto the path."
— writes A. NorovThere were many such incidents; for example, when Norov and his companions climbed into one of the tombs with torches in their hands, they almost fell victim to an attack by poisonous snakes.
“We were already approaching the descent into the dark room... when suddenly several huge snakes raised their hissing heads in the light of our torch; not having been prepared for such a meeting and not having any weapons, we were forced not to disturb the ashes of the Sesostris [pharaohs], guarded by such guards."
The title page of his book
Crawling through the most inaccessible and previously unknown places, Norov made many discoveries and found monuments not described by Champollion. "This monument is not described by Champollion," A. Norov points out about one of the tombs and gives its exact location. "Based on the relief and pictorial decoration of the paintings located there," he continues, "the monument should be on par with the best works of Egyptian art in this genre. The wall to the right of the courtyard represents a picture of hunting; here you will find a complete collection of Egyptian animals... On the opposite wall you can see the preparation of dishes obtained by hunting... We hope that these beautiful paintings will not be forgotten in the published collections of Egyptian monuments."
At Cape Jebel Sheikh Said, Norov met an old blind Arab, from whom he learned of two abandoned ancient tombs that had been converted into homes by poor fellahin. Having examined these tombs, Norov described them in detail:
"The first room is 14 paces long and 11 wide; all the walls are covered with elegant reliefs, but they can only be seen on the wall to the right of the entrance, the rest are plastered over, which, if removed, will reveal the preserved paintings even better. Those that are visible represent agricultural scenes; flocks graze and frolic in the meadows; oxen plow the land; donkeys walk, loaded with bread and fruit; all this is outlined and painted very vividly..."
He also gave detailed coordinates of these tombs, that is, he greatly facilitated the work of other researchers who would like to go to them.
A very beautiful model of an Egyptian boat. I wish I could replicate it, but... The problem is with the figurines. Ordering one costs 10 thousand... And to sculpt one yourself, you need to be a good sculptor, and it takes years to learn!
Norov made an interesting discovery in the inaccessible cliffs of Bird Mountain (Jebelul Teir in Arabic), near an abandoned Coptic monastery.
“I went first of all to the quarries and to my great surprise saw on the very first rock a colossal relief painting of the most ancient Egyptian style, representing two veiled female figures standing before Anubis [the dog-headed god of embalming]. With difficulty I could make out something of the inscription of two pharaonic names. Behind this rock a sepulchral cave opened up to me with excellent heroic reliefs, lightly whitened; here I could make out the name of the pharaoh Ramses IV. Here the cornice is very remarkable, composed of decorations mixed with rings of the names of the pharaohs. Here are a few more leaves for the history of Egypt, forgotten in these rocks; it is desirable that this place be explored ... Many more discoveries are yet to be made in Egypt, if we deviate from the usual paths and raise the sandy cover of the desert.”
By the way, Norov differed from other travelers in that he always went where no one had been before him. He looked for abandoned and hard-to-reach places that other researchers bypassed. That is why he managed to discover many things that have firmly entered the scientific practice of modern Egyptology.
But even in the famous Karnak Norov found a small relief confirming Champollion's report about one of the campaigns of Pharaoh Shoshenq (10th century BC). Norov described his find in detail, but also copied this remarkable relief, noting that it was previously known in an extremely distorted form.
Egyptian boat from the Hermitage. The ancient Egyptians often did not bother with the anatomical forms of their figurines - if it resembles a human, that's fine, but copying such primitivism is often even more difficult than sculpting an anatomically correct figurine.
By the way, he scolded the same Champollion very much for the fact that he barbarously broke out wall panels with paintings. And this was at a time when such archaeological methods practically did not cause bewilderment in anyone, but were considered quite acceptable. In addition, this was explained by the fact that in this way the ancient heritage was saved from the barbarity of the Egyptians of that time. So, Norov was not satisfied with such an attitude to culture even then.
He even had a row with the French consul, who wanted to tear some images out of the wall in Abydos...
"I stood up for the remains of Abydos, which were already small. He began to point out to me my goddess Neith; and I answered that, however, I did not break down the walls, like Champollion, and as he himself intended to do..."
The ignorant rulers of Egypt also got their share of it.
"One cannot see without indignation at the government the state in which this monument now finds itself. The inner chambers, which have been preserved, dressed with excellent relief images and hieroglyphs, serve as a pen for donkeys, defaced and desecrated with intent."
— Norov writes about one of the temples in Ombos.And, by the way, it was he who bought and brought from Egypt the statue of the goddess Neith, the lion-headed goddess worshipped in Sais. True, Norov was mistaken here. The granite statue, which he found among a pile of broken statues in Karnak, belonged to another lion-headed goddess, the goddess of war Sekhmet. It is now kept in the Hermitage and is one of the jewels of its Egyptian collection.
Here it is - the lion-headed Sekhmet, brought from Egypt by Norov. The reign of Amenhotep III. And as soon as he brought it safe and sound, what a pretty penny it cost him, including transportation. And now it stands in the Hermitage!
And then, having returned to Russia, he even became the Minister of Public Education and did a lot for the development, first of all, of female education in Russia, and even tried to soften the censorship that existed at that time. But this has nothing to do with Egyptology…
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