top of page

First drawing of Siwa's monumental remains.

The first drawings of Siwa's monumental remains dating back to 1801 and in possession of Sir Robert Ainslie published several times by Luigi Mayer in 1801 then in 1803 and finally in 1810 in Views in Libya, Vies in Egypt and finally in Views in the Ottoman dominions.

Both Luigi Mayer and Sir Robert Ainslie, to my knowledge, have never been to Siwa so it is likely that the artist who made the drawings referred to the description given by the first two Western travelers, Browne and Hornemann, who have never published designs of the Temple of Ubayda here quoted as the temple of Jupiter Ammon since at the beginning of '800 it was erroneously considered that this was the temple of the oracle.

The designs, though, of fantasy show many exact details.

The first drawings made by someone who really saw the temple were of Linant de Bellefonds in 1819

bottom of page