Napoleon in Egypt Volume 52 Number 3, May/June 1999 by Bob Brier A highly romantic nineteenth-century depiction shows Napoleon inspecting a mummy at the pyramids. So Talleyrand claimed responsibility for the idea of invading Egypt. Napoleon was 19. It was a vision to delight a foreign minister. The well-dressed men in the background holding umbrellas are some of the savants the general brought with him to Egypt. Napoleon's Campaign in Egypt: The Making of a Military Legend. The Directors were suspicious of Napoleon, this young, publicity-hungry general. According to Paul Strathern in Napoleon in Egypt, Napoleon read about Alexander’s conquest at the age of 20 in Volney’s Voyage en Egypte. Napoleon Bonaparte Slept one Night in the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid in Egypt When Napoleon Bonaparte spent the night in the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid in Egypt, he awoke the next day ashen gray and horrified. To get at England, Bonaparte sets out in grand style to conquer the East. General Napoleon was the leading trailblazer. The question posed by the professor for the paper was whether Napoleon was a liberator of Egypt, as he proclaimed himself in his own writings, or whether he was a conqueror, as recorded by Muslim scholar Abd Rahman Al-Jabarti]The actions of the French… The exhibition demonstrates the ensuing phenomena of Egyptomania, a craze … These authors view the Campaign from totally different aspects; some argue from the aspect of Egyptian society, others argue from the aspect of economy of Egypt… He was a romantic, inspired by the conquests of Alexander and Caesar. The future French emperor, born 250 years ago this month, in August 1769, made landfall at Alexandria on July 1, 1798. Napoleon in Egypt by famous academic painter Jean-Léon Gérôme is evidence of and an example of the European taste for exoticism in art in the 19th century. Culturally, there was the long-standing European dream of experiencing the exotic east. Contemporary physicists all agree … Egypt might not be controlled by the British, but the Mameluke rulers were no happier to see Napoleon. An Egyptian army marched to meet the French, clashing at the Battle of the Pyramids on July 21st. Napoleon had several reasons for invading Egypt. Why Napoleon and why Egypt? Napoleon in Egypt This source is a compilation of several authors and their opinions on how Napoleon affected Egypt. Napoleon sold him on the advantages of an invasion of Egypt, with the wealth and diplomatic power it would bring. This was coupled with an interest in the Enlightenment which drove a fascination with Egypt. Painted in 1863, it was expeditions and accounts of expeditions such as Napoleon’s at the … A struggle of military eras, it was a clear victory for Napoleon, and Cairo was occupied. 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