Following in the Footsteps of Homer, Plato, Caesar and Augustus: French-British Competition to Re-Claim Ancient Egypt After the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleon’s disastrous campaign in Egypt was a military and political failure; however, it opened up Egypt to European attention and competition. The campaign's aftermath yielded two significant developments, the Capitulation of Alexandria and the publication of the Description de l’Egypte. These transformed the military failure of the French into a cultural victory for Europeans. Although the British thoroughly bested the French in Egypt, both would now compete to better understand ancient Egypt. In my research, I compare the different modalities (textual description, cartography, and museums/exhibitions) through which France and Britain sought to acquire, curate, and disseminate knowledge about ancient Egypt from 1801-1830. In doing so, I examine how ancient Egypt was "rediscovered," really re-imagined, through the British-French rivalry. My research demonstrates that Egypt was originally valued for its connection to the Greco-Roman World – a concept that would haunt the British collection mindset. However, the French got out from under the shadow (or out of the footsteps) of the Greco-Roman World, recognizing the value of ancient, if not modern, Egypt on its own terms.