Margaret Benson a 19th Century Amateur Egyptologist & her Discoveries at the Temple of Mut

 At the age of twenty Margaret Benson was taken ill with scarlet fever, and by the time she was twenty-five she had developed the symptoms of rheumatism and the beginnings of arthritis, and so she began to spend winters in Egypt, On her return to Egypt in 1894 she stopped at Mena House hotel at Giza and for a short time at Helwan, south of Cairo, this area was known for its sulphur springs and from about 1880 it had become a popular health resort, particularly suited for the treatment of the sorts of maladies from which Margaret suffered. When Margaret arrived in Luxor again she was greeted by the locals as an old friend. Even today if you return to Luxor you will be greeted by many Egyptians who recognize you from earlier trips and want to welcome you back. People at every turn asked Margaret if she remembered them, and her donkey-boy almost wept to see her.

In January 1895, Margaret achieved the distinction of being the first woman to gain permission to conduct her own excavations in Egypt beginning at the Temple of Mut, The Egyptian authorities agreed to Margaret excavating there as it was felt that she wouldn't make any significant finds, but Margaret surprised them all. The Goddess  Mut's name means mother and she  was the consort of Amun, titled 'Lady of Heaven', and 'Mistress of all the Gods' who was  the mother of the God Khonsu,  and Wife of the major God Amun,  her temple is in the precincts of Amun's earthly home, Karnack Temple.

When Margaret was given permission to work on the Temple of Mut, it was considered to be unimportant, and a site that no one else wanted. On her first visit to Egypt, she had gone to see the temple of Mut because she had heard about the granite statues with cats' heads (the lion-headed images of Sekhmet). The donkey-boys knew how to find the temple but it was not considered a "usual excursion" and after her early visits to the site she said that "The temple itself was much destroyed, and the broken walls so far buried, that one could not trace the plan of more than the outer court and a few small chambers" Margaret had no particular training to qualify or prepare her for the job but what she lacked in experience she more than made up for with her "enthusiastic personality" 

From her letters of the time, it is clear that this was one of the most exciting moments of Margaret Benson's life because she was allowed to embark on what she considered a great adventure. "On January 1st, 1895, we began the excavation" -- with a crew composed of four men, sixteen boys (to carry away the earth), an overseer, a night guardian and a water carrier. A good part of Margaret's time was occupied with learning how to supervise the workmen and the basket boys. Since her spoken Arabic was almost nonexistent, she had to use a donkey-boy as a translator

At the first northern gate it was necessary for Margaret Benson to clear ten or twelve feet of earth to reach the paving stones at the bottom. In the process they found what were described as fallen roofing blocks, there was a lion-headed statue lying across and blocking the way, and also a small sandstone head of a hippopotamus The Lion headed statues were Sekhmet, who was the Egyptian goddess of war and destruction, she protected the Pharaoh in battle. Her husband, Ptah, whose temple is also found in the precincts of Karnack and her son, Nefertem were worshipped here in Karnack Temple. Sekhmet was known as 'the lady of life', and 'the lady of terror', she was the powerful mother goddess and defender of Egypt,  Margaret was thrilled at finding so many statues of the Lion headed Goddess. After working around the west half of the first court and disengaging eight Sekhmet statues in the process, they came on their first important find, near the west wall of the court they discovered a black statue of a man named Amenemhet, a royal scribe of the time of Amenhotep II. The statue is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but Margaret was given a cast of it to take home to England. 

Margaret wrote to her father :

'My Dearest Papa, We have had such a splendid find at the Temple of Mut that I must write to tell you about it. We were just going out there on Monday, when we met one of our boys who work there running to tell us that they had found a statue. When we got there they were washing it, and it proved to be a black granite figure about two feet high, knees up to its chin, hands crossed on them, one hand holding a lotus. '

The government had appointed an overseer who spent his time watching the excavation for just such finds. He reported it to a sub-inspector who immediately took the block statue away to a store house and locked it up. An appeal was made to Daressy who was kind enough to reverse the decision. He said it was hard that Margaret should not have 'la jouissance de la statue que vous avez trouve' ('the enjoyment of the statue you have found') and so Margaret  was allowed to take it to the hotel where she could enjoy it until the end of the season when it would become the property of the museum. 

As work was continued in the first court other broken statues of Sekhmet were found as well as two seated sandstone baboons of the time of Ramesses III. The baboon represents the ruling pharaoh, as well as knowledge and wisdom.  Baboons in ancient Egyptian literature represent, the knowledge that the ruler gave to his people. The God Thoth manifested as a baboon, and an Ibis bird, as a baboon he is is depicted as heavily maned seated animal, with paws resting on his knees with the lunar disc and crescent on his head, he is the  god of the moon, of learning, and of writing. he recorded all important facts for the King, and was also present in the hall of justice when a deceased person stood before the God Osiris to be judged, Thoth recorded the verdict. He taught the ancient Egyptians to write and he was the creator of languages, the scribe, interpreter, and adviser of the gods, and the representative of the sun god, Re.

The results of Margaret's first season would have been gratifying for any excavator. In a short five weeks the 'English Lady' had begun to clear the temple and to note the errors on the older plans available to her. For the second season in 1896 the work staff was a little larger, with eight to twelve men, twenty-four to thirty-six boys, a overseer, guardians and the necessary water carrier. 

In 1901, after her work at the Temple of Mut was over, she wrote to her mother: "Such a lot of times in my life I've been driven this way and that... things stopped just when I thought I was getting to them, or like Egyptology, opened just when I could do nothing else....". She chose to excavate because it seemed a project of interest to her at a time when her ever-active mind needed stimulation and her health made it necessary to be in the warm climate of Egypt.

Margaret  worked for three seasons at the Temple of Mut between 1895 and 1897, in this time she unearthed valuable evidence of the temple's history. Margaret's companion, Janet Gourlay,  who was also her assistant  in the excavations at the temple of Mut became co-author of the book , 'The Temple of Mut at Asher' published in  1899 . The book  reveals Margaret's devotion to her project and to the temple, her interest in Egyptology, and her keen intellect and wit.