adkins - the keys of egypt the obsession to decipher egyptian hieroglyphs

8/9/2019 Adkins - The Keys of Egypt the Obsession to Decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphs

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The Keys of Egypt B C

L

Lesley and Roy Adkns

-

HapeCsPul


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THE KEYS OF EGYPT. Copyright 2000 by esley an Roy AkinsAll rights reserve Printe in the nite States o Ameria No parto this book may be use or reproue in any manner whatsoeverwithout written permission exept in the ase o brie quotations

emboie in ritial artiles an reviews.For inormation aress HarperCollins Publishers In .

0 East 5r Street New ork N 0022 .

HarperCollins books may be purhase or euational businessor sales promotional use For inormation please write

Speial Markets Department HarperCollins Publishers In . 0 East 5r Street New ork N 0022 .

IRST EDITION

St in Phtina by Nig StudwikHigyphi fnt by C Huggin

Printe on airee paper

Library o Congress CataloginginPubliation Datahas been applie or.

SBN 0060 949

00 0 02 0 04 RRD 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 2


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To Liz, on and Poppy ih ove


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Acknowledgements

It s a pleasure to acknowege the help of many people an organ-

izatons urng the wrtng of ths book We wou rst of all lke to

express our sincere thanks to L Asathque for permsson to quote

from the letter to Angelca Palli publshe n Jan-Fan90i Champo

ion Ltt a Zmi by Ea Brescan (1978) Part of theTeachng of the Vzer Ptahhotep' an the wors It s goo to speak

to the Future t shal lsten both orgnaly publshe n Th Ta of

Sinuh and Oth Anint gyptian Pom 0-60 transate

wth an ntrouction an notes by R B Parknson (1997) are

reprouce by kn permsson of Oxfor Unersty Press We are

also grateful for permsson to reprouce part of a etter wrtten by

Heqanakht the spell to protect a chl an the eulogy to ea

authors all orgnally publshe n Voi fm Anint gypt An

Anthoogy of Midd Kingdom Witing by R. B. Parknson (991

whch are the Brtish Museum Brtsh Museum Press The spell

s reprouce ater the erson n Voi fom Anint gypt knly

amene by R B Parknson

All the illustratons are the copyrght of Lesley an Roy AknsPcture Lbrary except for the photograph of the Rosetta Stone

whch s reprouce by the kn permssion of The Brtsh Museum

an the photographs of the young JeanFranos Champolon an

JaquesJoseph ChampollonFgeac whch are taken om L ux


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Champlin by AmLous ChampollonFgeac (1887) and repro

duced by the nd permsson of The Brtsh Lbrary.

The staff of many lbrares gae us naluable assstance most

notaby the London Lbrary the Unersty of Brstol Arts and

Soca Scences Lbrary and Worsley Chemcal Lbrary the Grth

Insttute Lbrary and Bodlean Lbrary n Oxford; the Brtsh

Lbrary Bernard Nurse and Adran James of the Socety of Ant

quares of London's Lbrary Dad Bromwch of Somerset Studes

Lbrary and MareFranose BosDeltte at the Bblothquemuncpale n Grenoble. Also n Grenoble we are pleased to

acnowledge the assstance of JeanWlam Dereymez and the

Soct Champollon and M. and Mme. Chateaumnos n nearby

Vf were ery oblgng At Fgeac our stay was made partcularly

enjoyable and useful by the assstance of Madame Prt at the

Muse Champollon the staff of the muncpal lbrary the Chteaudu Vguer du Roy and Tax Frcou

Specal thans must be extended to Dr Rchard Parnson of the

Department of Egyptan Antqutes at the Brtsh Museum who

has been most generous n sharng nformaton We are ndebted to

Dr Ngel Strudwc for hs ery useful help and metculous typeset

tng of the text and heroglyphs. We must aso not forget Gll and

Afred Sms for ther practcal hep

Wthn HarperCollns thans are due to Larry Ashmead

Mchael Fshwc Kate Morrs Sona Dobe and Chrs Bernsten for

all ther naluable help.

Our oerwhelmng grattude s ept nally for Patrc Walsh

,}r�J. wthout whom ths boo would most certanlyneer hae been wrtten.


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ContentsList of llustrations

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EGHT

NINE

TEN

� � (The Beginning of Time)I I I

H� (The Land of Eg ypt)*0 (The Pupil)"

® (The Cit y)01

(The Teacher)

(The Physician)kf� (Cleopatra)

+ (An Acquaintance of the King)9 Wf" (Master of Secrets)

cO

�I= (he Translator)


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List of IllustrationsWiliam Wabto

JeaJacqes Bathemy

Napoleo Boapate

The Rosetta Stoe © Copyight The Bitish Msem

The Egyptiastye tomb of Joseph Foie

MaieAlexade Leoi

The tomb of EdmeFa


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Looing down the entrance corridor of the tomb of Ramesses V

Plan of the tomb of Ramesses IV

Cartouche at Karna of the Birth Name of the Pharaoh

Tuthmosis IV

Formulaic hieroglyph from Karna

Columns of hieroglyphs on a pylon wall at Karna

Different types of Egyptian writing

A table of pure and linear phonetic hieroglyphs with hieratic and

demotic equialents from Champollions Pecis du systmhieyphiu

Cartouches of phaaohs from Champollions Pecis du systm

hieyphiu

Cartouches of Gree rulers of Egypt from Champollions Pecis du

systm hieyphiu

The Egyptianstyle obelis in Figeac commemorating JeanFranois Champollion

JeanFranois Champollions tomb

Map of Europe and Egypt

Map of the Nile Valley of Egypt and Nubia


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lm

b, h

ghh

mm

hgphs

s hm h s

gz h pps hs

w hgp sps

Npl p h m hs

gp Ep


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Te Rsea ne ae een

nsevain. w e bm

ea e emanng

ncseve sw e a

wa cveng e sace a

e we n

Te Egypansyle m

sep Fe n e Pe

aase emeey as s


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MA , w pbs

b gps w mp

ws s Ps

T mb Ems

m i P s

m Ps m

Egp bs


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Thms Yg, h ms

ss v mp

h phm

gphs


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eFs

mp ws

b e se

(w msem

e e e e e

see

Fge.

esmp e

cqessep

mpFgec

e begg e

eee e


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The g ee

he mup b

museum Gebe

whee uesseph

hs bhe we.

JeFis

hmpi

8 2 hg

hs h he


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Eae he u Ca�e

he ve 8 a he

ime whe hamp was

ca he Egpa

cecs

A pae ele a he

eae he mb


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Abv; Fny h Lny Ra

nd h mb Ram V n h

Vy n b, n

mpn' lpn

w: Lkn dwn he nan

d mb f Ram IV n

Vly h Kn whh wa ud a

mpy ammdan bympln pdn


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.. . .. .. ..: :

.

.

.

..... .. ... .... . .. ....... ..

.

.

.

. ..-

.

.

�

�

-

6

lj[!1WI"

-.

5 -

7

1

l

i

14

5

.

2

4

.6

E

8

;

0

.

�1

.

Pan of he omb of

Ramesses IV, whereChampolion's expediion

ived for severa weeks.

bed of a gazee

2 bed of a large cat

(both animals given

to them a Abu

Simbel and reated

as pets)3 Ricci

4 Gaeano Roseini

5 LHe

6 Cherubini

7 Champollion

8 Ippoio Roseini

9 Berin

10 Duchesne Lehoux

Angeei

13 iving room4 dining room

5 anechamber

6 sarcophagus of

RamessesV


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Cch k

h h Nm f

hh hmd rd49

86 Be).

Fm hyp

m k h t(ws, H (djd) �(nkh)d = (b y mbd


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Columns of

hrogyphs on a

pyon wa at

Kanak contanng

texts of he

Pharaoh

Amnhotp III

(ued aound8 6 to 49 B).

Dffnt typ of

Egyptan writng

hogyphs


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A table of 'pure and linearphonetichiero glyphs w ithhieratic and demoticequivalents fromChampollionsPrec is du s yst mhie glyp hiqU.

" ·d-� AEO.


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enFns

hmpns mb n

he m n

The gypn-sye

besk n Fge

mmemng

Jenrn


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Mp of Euope nd gyp

gc 9 Foee

2 nob 10 Rom

3 Prs 11 Npes

4 London 2 em

dnbug ouon

6 ngn 4 Aexnd

7 urn o

8 Lvoo


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.

.

.

.

.

. .

:

. . .. Mp of Vy

of Egyp nd Nb

1 Abokr

2 Alxndr

3 Ros

4 Ss

5 Ebb

6 z

7 ro

8 Sqqr

9 n Hssn

A

11 Asso

12 Abydos

1 3 ndr

14 bsLxorKrnk

15 Esn

16 Edf

7 KoObo

18 Aswn/

19 Krss

2 W

21 Klbs

22 rf sn 2 3 kk

24 Wd lSbo

2 Ad

26 rr

27 Qsr [br

28 Ab Sb

29 Wd f

30 rs r3 Sond r


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The !(eys of Egypt


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�Qo G

The Beginning of Time)The house at 28 rue Mazarne, where JeanFranos Champollon

led and carred on hs research nto herogyphs was less than

200 yards from the Insttute of France where hs brother acques

Joseph had hs ofce Towards mdday on 14 September 1 822 ,

Champollon coered the dstance n the shortest tme possble

Clutchng hs papers notes and drawngs he led along the narrow

gloomy street, around the corner and nto the Insttute. Not fully

recoered from hs latest spell of llhealth and at the hghest ptch

of exctement, he was already breathless as he burst nto hs

brother's ofce, lung hs papers on to a des and shouted, tin

affai ( I 'e found t ) Worng snce early mornng on the latestdrawngs of nscrptons from Abu Smbe he had at last seen the

system underlyng the seemngly unntelgble Egyptan hero

gyphs and t was now only a matter of tme before he would be able

to read any heroglyphc text He began to explan to acquesJoseph

what he had dscoered, but only managed a few words before col

apsng unconscous on the loor For a few moments hs brotherfeared he was dead

Perhaps not qute n the way he had always hoped for, ths was to

proe the most mportant turnng pont n Champollons turbulent

lfe Through years of eerncreasng preoccupaton wth hero

glyphs he had been worng towards ths goal, but hs rst tentate


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T H E K E Y S O E G Y P T

steps ha been mae before he ha chosen his lifes wor an een

before he ha seen any hieroglyphs he was rawn to his estiny by

an insatiable curiosity about the origins of the worl Early in chil

hoo apparently neglecte by his parents he was looe after an

to some extent spoile by his brother an three sisters an they

ote on the bright baby of the family who was so much younger

than themseles. Champollion's high intelligence an extraori

nary genius for languages were recognize by his brother who was

etermine that these gifts shoul not be waste. Haing ha hisown schooling curtaile by the terrible upheaal of the French

Reolution JacquesJoseph resole to minimize its effects on

Champollion initially by giing him lessons since all the schools

ha been shut own. Later a priate tutor was foun for the boy but

as a precarious political stabiity returne uner the ascenance of

Napoleon the schools reopene. By the age of twele Champollionwas so proigiously procient in Latin an Gree that he was

alowe to begin stuying Hebrew Arabic Syriac an Chalean.

Since his owlege of Latin an Gree ha alreay opene to him

a worl of boos on all manner of subjects his passion for Oriental

languages initially appears a curious caprice on the part of this son

of a rural booseller born in the remote town of Figeac in south

west France. In reality Champollion ha alreay ecie to tae on

one of the great intelectual challenges to inestigate the creation

of the worl an the beginning of time itself

Although the Reolution ha outlawe the Catholic Church an

suppresse religion the only moel for the origin of the worl was

still containe in the Ol Testament of the Bible which was beliee

to be a escription of the history of the earth from the time of its creation by Go. Scholars preparing to examine this theory ha to

possess a goo nowlege of Oriental anguages in orer to stuy

early ersions of the Biblical texts an relate ocuments. Since it

was stil beliee that people lie on the earth ery soon after the

worl began it was natural to use the tools of history an philology

to loo for its origin archaeology angeoo were only in their


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T H E B E G NN N G OF T ME

infancy not yet espectable sciences Champollion's insatiable cui

osity was to tempt him towads aious othe elds of study on

many occasions but once he became awae of the potential of

ancient Egypt he found the focus fo which he was seaching He

was gipped by enegetic enthusiasm fo this mysteious county a

Biblical land whose histoy was intewoen with that of the Isael-

ites but the histoy of Egypt (indeed itually al nowledge of

Egypt) was loced away in hieoglyphic texts that could not be

ead texts that might contain unimaginabe secets een anaccuate account of the oigin of the wold Hee was a challenge

wothy of his talents a pize of untold nowledge fogotten fo

centuiesif he could only deciphe the hieoglyphs

Apat fom his exceptional gift fo languages anothe gift that

was to poe decisie in Champoion's success was his extaodi-

nay isual memoy which allowed him to pic out simila signs

and goups of signs among the thousands of hieoglyphs he was to

study. It may hae been this isual memoy that caused his initia

pobems with witing and speling as a child he seems to hae

seen wods as pictues and pictues as wods maing ittle distinc

tion between witing and dawing This unconentional and

caeless appoach was pobably a esult of his ealy childhood when

he tied to teach himself by copying wods fom boos an indication of his ability to tacle poblems in his own oiginal way. In the

unfocused feedom of these fomatie yeas with no pope teach-

ing he deeloped the wideanging cuiosity that late poided

both the main diing foce of his life and a tendency to be dis-

tacted by ee moe inteesting ieeancies but the egacy of this

unusual childhood was not altogethe benecial. Resticted to thehome because the social unest of the Reoution made the steets

unsafe fo childen Champollion at least had the eedom indoos

to exploe whatee caught his attention but this late caused

poblems when he was foced to cope with the disciplines of the

schooloom and the necessity to study subjects such as mathemat-

ics that completely failed to inteest him. It too him many yeas to


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T H E K E Y S OF E G Y P

learn how to cope with life as an ordinary schoolboy and he neer

fully adjusted to it, simply because he was far om ordinary. With a

een sense of humour, he increasingy used his air for satire and

biting wit to defend himself as he stried to surie the rigours of

school With friends and family, though, he was inariably ind and

generous.

The iolent mood swings and tantrums born of the frustrations

of Champollion's early schooldays gradually gae way to a grudg

ing tolerance of lessons that were incomprehensible or numbingyrepetitie and of teachers who were more proocatie than inspir-

ing as he tried eer harder to suppress his outrage at injustice and

disguise his boredom What he did not hide was an ability and a

passion for those subjects which did interest him. Initially an

amusement, drawing was a sil that he continued to deelop and

would become essential in his study of hieroglyphs, and botany wasan enthusiasm that neer entirely le him, but to his aptitude and

obsession for languages was added an increasing immersion in

ancient history.

As his education progressed, it was the wor done in his spare

time that began to display the deeloping sills that would be so

important for his study of hieroglyphs. Once committed to a project

Champollion was capable of the most meticulous study, patienly

and painstaingly examining and assessing all aailable sources of

eidence. He had a passion for isting, classifying and analyzing the

accumuated material before using strictly logical reasoning to pro-

duce his results. Aboe all, he was stubborn he might be forced to

leae off a project or stop it altogether, he might be sidetraced or

hindered a hundred times, but he neer gae up. He also had thecourage and independence to approach probems with an open

mind Born and brought up in the time of the rench Reolution,

when religion had been ocially abolished and actiely suppressed,

his education was neertheless oen in the hands of men who were

deout Catholics (many of them priests and mons before the Re

olution), enabling him to deelop a lexibility of thought that was to


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T H E BE G NN N G O T M E 5

proe crucial i uderstadig hieroglyphs Where his rials

teded to be factioal ad polarized (for or agaist the Church for

or agaist Napoleo ad equally rigid i their itellectual theories Champollio weighed the eidece ad drew his ow co

clusios. This approach was both a blessig ad a curse applied to

academic problems it was essetial but i a time of political

upheaal it could proe fatal. Iitially a critic of Napoleo Cham

pollio became a feret supporter i the wees before Napoleos

al abdicatio a ufortuate decisio that brought him uderimmediate suspicio from the restored moarchy ad lifelog

hatred ad oppositio from may Royalists

The al elemet i Champollios success was the aailability of

material. The umber of hieroglyphs that preious scholars had at

their disposal was seerely limited beig maily deried from Egyp

tia moumets ad artifacts that had bee imported ito Europe

log ago. Because Egypt had bee closed to outsiders for ceturies

attempts to decipher hieroglyphs had groud to a halt as isuciet

source material made the tas imossible Yet ee as Champollio

was attedig his rst formal lessos, Napoleo was coductig a

mometous military campaig i Egypt that would eetually

brig all thigs Egyptia to the otice of wester Europeas ad

especially the Frech Napoleos campaig i Egypt failed i itsmilitary objecties, but the saats accompayig the expeditio

too bac to Frace a mass of otes, dawigs ad artifacts that

were to amaze the scholars of Europe, ad the soldiers who suried

the campaig retured with stories of a exotic lad of star

cotrasts stories that would hae bee elarged ad embellished

each time they were told From Napoleo himself dow to the lowestras of coscripts eeryoe who had tae part i the Egypt expe

ditio was deeply affected by the experiece ad a fasciatio for

Egypt (i effect a ewly discoered coutry) spread throughout

Frace creatig a wae of Egyptomaia. Oer the follwig dec

ades the Egyptomaia faded but the Frech afity for Egypt, the

coloy Frace eer had, has cotiued to the preset day


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6 T H E K E Y S OF E G Y P T

By the tme Champollon arred n Pars n 807 the cty was

home to the most brlant lngustc scholars n Europe. It also pos

sessed a mass of exctng but as yet barely studed materal just

brought bac from Egypt by Napoleons expedton and lbrares

were choed wth precous boos and manuscrpts that had been

looted om all oer Europe by Napoleons armes. The attempt to

decpher heroglyphs whch Champollon had already begun soon

deeloped nto a race between hmself and hs rals a strange race

run n darness where each compettor was oen unnown to theothers untl he chose to reeal pubcly what strdes he had made

Scholars from all oer the Contnent began to study heroglyphs

wth many concentratng on the nscrptons of the newly dsco

ered Rosetta Stone whose three texts held out the hope that the

heroglyphc text could be matched wth the Gree text to prode a

ey to translaton. As more and more people joned n the serouscompetton resoled tself nto a duel between two men and n a

curous reecton of the potcs of the tme one was French and one

was Englsh JeanFranos Champollon and Thomas Young. The

competton was open and anyone could try hs hand at decpher

ment but there was no formal race no prze was offered no money

no medals aboe all there were no rules. Yet each wouldbe dec

pherer fully understood what he was strng for: a place n hstory

a reputaton as the one who berated ancent Egypt from the gno

rance and obscurty that had come to surround t the mmortal

acclam due to the man who rst decphered heroglyphs


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C H A P T R O N

The Land of Egyt)Josephine nee i see gypt She begge Napoleon to tae he

with him, but fo once he was unecie. He new that his expei

tion to gypt was a gamble if the Fench leet, laen with toops,

supplies an amaments was caught by the Bitish Nay, thee

woul be little chance to ght o lee Ha Josephine accompanie

Napoeon, she woul hae been one of the st westen women to

see gypt in moe than a thousan yeas, because conitions wee

so angeous that tae up the Nile Valey was only fo the fealess,

the foolish o the suicial.

On 1 9 May 1 79 8 Geneal Napoleon gae oes fo the Fench

leet to set sail naly eciing not to tae his wife Josephine but tosen fo he once his expeition ha successfully eae the Bitish.

He ha in fact, gien oes that no women, othe than the few o

cialy authoize ones such as launesses an seamstesses, wee

to tael with the expeition but it was not unusual fo women to

accompany thei husbans an loes on militay campaigns an

in the eent Napoleons oes wee not stictly obsee. Some

wies of ofces taelle with them openly while othe women

stowe away on the ships o wee isguise as men In all, about

300 women saile to gypt

The expeition ha only been at sea fo fou ays when Napo

leon ecie to tae the is an sen fo Josephine ae all. The

figate Pmn was espatche to collect he, but by the time it


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8 T H E E Y S F E G Y P T

reached its destination Josephine was too ill to trael Haing

stayed to see Napoleon sail om Toulon she had made her way to

the spa town of Plombires in Lorraine to tae the waters but on 20

June she suffered a serious accident when a wooden balcony col

lapsed fteen feet onto the street below. For three months Josephine

endured a long and painful recoery while the local physician

treated her with boiled potatoes brandy and camphor applied as

compresses along with leeches hot baths and frequent enemas.

When she was again able to write she could only lament in lettersto her friends that she was unable to sail for gypt hae receied

a charming letter om Bonaparte. He tells me that he cannot lie

without me to come and rejoin him and to go to Naples to embar

I ery much wish that my health might allow me to leae immedi

ately but I see no end to my cure. I cannot remain standing or

sitting for ten minutes without terrible pains in my idneys andlower bac All do is cry'

This accident was a critical moment for Napoleon and

Josephine by the time she was well enough to trael Napoleon

had been gien proof of her adultery and no longer wished to see

her in gypt. At one time bewitched by this woman six years older

than himself whom he had married two years earlier his relation

ship with her was neer the same again and shortly afterwards

Napoleon too the rst of a series of mistresses the newly married

wife of an army lieutenant Pauline Fours who had accompanied

her husband disguised as a soldier and who came to be nown

among the troops as Cleopatra the name that written in both

Gree letters and hieroglyphs would later proide one of the ital

eys to the decipherment of hieroglyphic writing.Napoleon Bonaparte born in 1 769 at Ajaccio in Corsica of

minor nobility had receied a military education in France and

entered an artillery regiment of the French army in 1 78 5 . The

French Reolution which broe out four years later would lead to

war with many uropean states fearful of the spread of social

reform and om 1 79 6 Napoleon led the army to stunning ictories


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T H E A ND OF E G Y P T

oer the Austria forces i Italy For a brief period Frace was oly

at war with its implacable eemy, Britai, but Napoleo judged ay

further attempts to iade that coutry as too perilous without

cotrol of the sea Istead, he looed to destroy Britai by seizig

Egypt: Frech cotrol would disrupt British trade with its richest

possessio, Idia, ad proide a base for military expeditios to the

subcotiet.

It also suited Napoleo to be far away from politics i Paris at this

time. His hope was to retur om Egypt i triumph ad tae cotrol of a coup dtat that others were already plottig fo their part,

the members of the Directory (a committee of e directors holdig

executie power uder the Reolutioary costitutio of 22

August 79 5 were glad to see him go, expectig the expeditio to

fail ad put a ed to the ambitious youg geerals politica

career whe Napoleo suggested that he should mout the expe-ditio they rapidly coseted.

By the time his expeditio reached Egypt early six wees ater

leaig Frace, the coutry had bee pat of the empire of the Otto

ma Turs for early three ceturies the Turs had tae cotro

from the Arabs who had themseles iaded gypt early 900

years earlier. Before Napoleo, oly a hadful of traellers

iariably me had eer etured south of the Nile Delta The

small umber of merchats were largely coed to Cairo, Alexa

dria Rosetta ad Damietta, ad the mai cetre for those om the

west was Cairo, where they had their ow walled quarter, the

etrace to which was guarded by Turish soldiers. Ee i the Nile

Delta, it was ot safe for westerers to trael outside these settle

mets without a armed escort, while trael south of the Deta wasot ee cosidered As a cosequece the fty to sixty Frech

merchats liig i Egypt were uable to proide much iforma

tio about the coutry whe Napoleo ad his geerals arried

they realized just how little they ew about the lad they had

come to coquer.

Through sheer good fortue the ships carryig the expeditio


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0 T H E K E Y S F E G Y P T

reache the coast of Egypt at the en of June 1 798 haing elue a

powerful British leet that was combing the Meiterranean to locate

an estroy them The expeition ha a military force of some

38000 troops on boar 400 transports, with sixty el guns an

forty siege guns but only 1 200 horses for aroun 3 000 caalry

men because Napoleon expecte to use camels for transport. There

was also a party of saants: espite haing been inite on a tropical

oyage without nowing the estination, oer 1 50 members of the

National nstitute ha been wiling to join the expeition. ThisInstitute, establishe n Paris in 1 79 5 inclue eminent men in all

branches of science, an Napoleon was ery prou that he ha been

electe to the Institute in 1 79 7 a fact which probably helpe per

suae so many of these saants (ocially liste as 1 6 7 in number)

to tae such an extraorinary leap in the ar If the British ha

foun an estroye the French leet, the cream of Frances intellectual an artistic talent woul hae been lost: for this reason, the

saants traelle on at least seenteen ships, with each specialist

group split amongst ifferent ships.

The specialist groups of saants inclue astronomers, ciil

engineers, raughtsmen, linguists, Orientalists, painters, poets an

musicians, with celebrities such as the brilliant mathematician

JeanBaptisteJoseph Fourier, the scientist an mathematician

Gaspar Monge who ha inente escriptie geometry, an the

chemist ClaueLouis Berthollet Amongst the other notable schol-

ars were the inentor an balloonist Nicolas Cont, who is probably

best nown for inenting the graphite pencil, Doat Gratet e

Dolomieu the mineralogist, after whom the Dolomite mountains

were name, the naturalist Geoffroy SaintHilaire, the artist anengraer Dominique Viant Denon, the poet Franois Auguste Par

seal Granmaison, an the engineer an geographer Eme

Franois Jomar

Napoleons true moties in taing a large group of talente ciil-

ians on such a perilous military aenture are not nown, but their


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T H E A ND OF E G Y P T

msson, not one of mperal conquest There were een plans to cut

a canal through the Isthmus of Suez to jon the Medterranean to

the Red Sea and so prode a new sea route to the East. Ths aspect

appealed to Napoleon who saw hmself as followng n the footsteps

of Alexander the Great, a Macedonan Gree who too control of

Egypt n 331 before settng out on hs campagn of conquest

through the Persan Empre to Inda and Afghanstan, beyond the

Hndu Kush. Hang ded of poson or feer at Babylon, Alexander

was brought bac for bural n hs newly founded cty of Alexandran Egypt He had taen a group of scholars and scentsts on hs Per

sian campagn, and for centures aerwards all European scentc

nowledge of the East was based on the nformaton that these men

had gathered: Napoleons group of saants may wel hae been

desgned to equal or surpass Alexanders

It s wth the few saants who became nterested n the monu

ments of ancent Egypt that the story of decpherng the heroglyphs

really begns The entre group of saants was expected to record

eery aspect of the country ncludng geology, hydraulcs, fauna

and ora relgon agrculture and manufacturng a tas com

pletely superuous to the stated ams of the mltary expedton. The

recordng of ancent monuments was not ensaged as a major con

cern, because the saants were largey unaware of the hugenumber of ancent monuments that sured. If there was any

mmedate practcal benet to be ganed from the presence of the

scentsts and engneers t was to assess and record the country's

current wealth, strategc alue and possbltes for deelopment,

wth a ew to mang Egypt a colony of rance a practca mpos

sblty gen the poltca dsrupton n rance at that tme Inrealty, the presence of the saants n Egypt was hardly more than a

whm on the part of Napoleon who perhaps dreamed of transcend

ng the feats of Alexander yet wthout that whm Egyptan

heroglyphs mght stl be undecphered. It was the return to rance

of those saants who sured ther stay n Egypt along wth thou

sands of drawngs of heroglyphs on the walls of tombs and tempes


41/367

2 T H E K E Y S OF E G Y P

that not only spared renewed interest in deciphering the hiero

glyphs but proided for the rst time a mass of material for their

study material that too three perilous and gruelling years in

Egypt to gather. It was also the start of the French passion for Egypt.

Haing safely reached Egypt no time could be wasted in getting

ashore because the French new that British warships might

appear at any time to attac before the army was disembared and

before the rench eet coud be reorganized into battle formation.

The landing began off Marabout beach to the west of Alexandriaat about midday on 1 July but the ships were some three miles off

shore with rocs and reefs between them and the beach and the

weather was rapidly deteriorating. The rst boats reached land at

eight in the eening and the troops continued disembaring all

through the night Because of the heay surf and the need to aoid

obstacles it too up to eight hours to row the boats from the shipsto the shore and many men were inured or fell oerboard while

transferring from the ships to the boats in the rough seas. Napoleon

recorded only nineteen men drowned during this operation but it

is liely this gure is more propaganda than accurate record and

that casualties were fa higher

Disembaration of the army was not completed until July but

Napoleon did not wait for this At dawn on 2 July waling at the

head of a column of around 5000 troops he began the march on

Alexandria despite the fact that no artillery horses or een drin

ing water had been landed from the ships The tired and hungry

soldiers carried nothing but their weapons and the clothes they

marched in No road existed from the landing place to Alexandria

and the few wells and water cisterns had been sabotaged bynomadic Bedouin Arabs who also continually harassed the rench

and captured any stragglers Once they became nown the atroci

ties committed on prisoners by the Bedouin discouraged soldiers

from straggling on subsequent marches. The rench reached the

outsirts of Alexandia at eight in the morning and despite the

troops being exhausted and suffering from extreme heat and thirst


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T H E A ND O E G Y P T

Napoleo ordered a mmedate attac The habtats were

poorly armed terred of the approachg army ad had spet the

ght sedg messages to Caro beggg for reforcemets. The

Frech desperate for water ad facg oly feeble resstace had

cotro of the cty uder three hours.

It was ot utl 4 July that the saats dsembared They had

bee regarded as a ow prorty ad some had ot bee treated ery

wel aer the ma force had left the shps beg made to sleep o

dec ad deed food Most were uceremoousy dumped o theoutsrts of Alexadra aog wth ther persoa luggage ad

were e to fed for themseles. Alexadra was a shoc ad a ds

appotmet There was o trace of the cty that had oce bee the

cultural ad tellectual cetre of the acet world wth ts

famous brary of oer 700000 olumes ts temples theatres pa-

aces ad the tomb of Alexader the Great. The cty had oce

measured oe me by three mes ad ts tw harbours were pro

tected by the famous Pharos lghthouse bult the thrd cetury

ad regarded as oe of the see woders of the world Its pop-

ulato was reputedly oer 300000 possbly ee oe mlo but

om the tme of the Arab coquest the mdseeth cetury

Alexadra wet to a steady decle ad due to earthquaes ad

subsdece much of the cty became submerged It s oy ow thatthe former glory of Alexadra s beg brought to ght by the wor

of uderwater archaeologsts To the dsmay of the saats all they

saw was a collecto of rcety hoels clustered aroud squald

arrow streets habted by a populato of ess tha 6000

The mltary herarchy gae o thought to the saats who

spet seera days dg shelter wth Europeas already lg Alexadra ad at the house of the Brtsh Cosul who had let

before the Frech arred It too a drect protest to Napoleo by the

meralogst Dolomeu before arragemets were made for pro

sos for the saats ad ee the they oly receed ordary

solders ratos Napoleo was tet o mog om Alexadra

as soo as possble ad so there was ezed actty eerywhere.


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T H E K E Y S O F E G Y P T

Genera Caffarei who was in charge of the saants ony had time

for the mtary engneers among them and ignored the rest As thecampaign progressed the saants became used to being treated ie

part of the army but nitiay they resented beng regarded as ess

important than the humbest of the troops and fet that being used

as cers and messengers (jobs Caffarei assgned to the most ocif

erous compainers) was a waste of ther taent

Friction between the sodiers and the saants had aready begun

to deeop during the oyage from France with both sides com

paining to Napoeon Haing a foot in both camps he coud see no

reason for the discord and became impatient about the compaints.

ndeed he had made the situation worse by hoding daily discus

sons often on the dec of the shp which the saants and his army

ofcers were obiged to attend in order to dscuss a wde range of

subjects supposedy in preparation for the nstitute of Egypt thatNapoeon ntended to set up. The soders had arious derogatory

names for the saants of whch the most common one was don

eys . On the march the rea doneys that carried the baggage were

jongy referred to as demsaants (hafscientsts) and when

the rans were formed nto a defensie square before a batte the

beowed order Doneys and saants to the midde of the square

ineitaby prooed aughter from the troops

Temporariy estabished in Aexandria the saants found noth

ing of interest in the squaid city and ery few ancient remains to

expore. The most obous monument was Pompey's Piar a Roman

stone coumn set on top of a hi which dominated the town. Despite

being named aer the rstcentury genera Pompey whose se

ered head was presented to Juius Caesar when he anded in Egypt inpursuit of him in 48 , the coumn was actuay erected in the

reign of the Emperor Diocetian (A.D 284305 to commemorate

his sit o Aexandria he was the ast reining Roman emperor

eer to set foot in Egypt. Of more interest were Ceopatras Needes

which were actuay two obeiss one st standing and the other


44/367

T H E L A ND O F E G Y P T

were the rst real Egyptan monuments that the French encoun

tered but they had no connecton wth Cleopatra and were

orgnally erected around 500 B n ont of a temple n the

ancent cty of Helopols (now beneath the suburbs of Caro) They

were only moed to Alexandra n 0 B by the Roman Emperor

Augustus. The base of the standng obels had Gree and Latn

nscrptons cared on t but as t was bured n the sand these were

not sble. Beng unable to read the heroglyphs, the saants were

unaware that these monuments had already traeled the length ofEgypt from a quarry near Aswan far to the south to be erected n

Helopols and then reerected n Alexandra. Decades after Napo

leon the falen obels was moed to the Thames Embanment n

London where it s stll nown as Cleopatras Needle and the stand-

ng obels was transported to New Yor and erected n Central

Par

The heroglyphc nscrptons that the saants saw on the obelss

contaned a hgh proporton of names wthn cartouches such as

whch means Son of the sun god Ra Ramesses Beloed of the god

Amun but they dd not realze that such dedcatory nscrptons

consstng almost entrely of the names and ttles of pharaohs were

not especally common because ths was the only type of hero

glyphc inscrpton already famar to them cared on the obelss

and other monumental sculptures n Rome whch had been lootedfrom Egypt by the Romans oer 500 years earler. It would be

some months before the saants were fully aware of the richness of

the ancent Egyptan remans that awaited them south of the Nle

Delta hang so far only seen the desert and the dsappontng rem

nants of Alexandra

n star contrast to the desert the annual loodng of the rer


45/367


let a thck carpet of most and fertle black slt along the Nle Valey

that gave Egypt one of ts ancent names

L(Kemetthe

blk land) land so fertle that t prodced the real gold of Egypt:/ (gran). For thosands of years the annal lood cycle mantaned a way of lfe whch changed so very slowy om generaton

to generaton that ths change was mperceptble. The gran and

other crops made the contry so wealthy that t cold sstan the

hge labor force (conscrpts rather than slaves) that was needed to

bld massve tomb complexes for ther kngs and vast temples forther gods and as long as the gods reglatd the annal Nle lood

and made the sn shne each day there was no ncentve for

change. Sch an dyllc place dd not escape the notce of ts negh

bors and Egypt was oten at war eventally beng nvaded by a

sccesson of enemes Alexander the Great took possesson of

Egypt om the Persans and the resltng Ptolemac Greek rlngdynasty that followed hm was n trn osted by the Romans n 30

when Cleopatra VI was defeated and commtted scde. The

Roman general Octavan conqered Egypt and he retrned to Italy

to otmanoevre hs enemes and become ts rst Roman emperor,

at the same tme makng Egypt a provnce of the Empre.

For the Romans, the provnce was a fablos prze a land of

strange gods and great wealth. The vast qanttes of gran from the

fertle Nle Valley were so mportant to Rome that Egypt was drectly

controlled by the emperor and gold was so plentfl n Egyp that by

comparson slver was an expensve mport Several sbseqent

Roman emperors vsted the contry and were fascnated by ts

ancent monments so mch so that they transported back to

Rome obelsks sphnxes and varos states all adorned wth mysteros heroglyphs Egyptomana spread throgh Roman Italy

wth tombs constrcted n the shape of pyramds and hoses and

gardens decorated n an Egyptan style. Some plan obelsks were

even carved wth fake heroglyphs to make them appear more Egyp

tan whch wold later confse attempts at decpherment when

Egyptomana spread throgh France as a drect reslt of Napo


46/367


eos expeto oce more Egypta styes woul be the heght of

fasho a tombs mare by pyrams a obelss woul be bult

Pars cemeteres just as they ha bee bult outse the was ofRome eghtee cetures before.

Uer Roma rule the use of heroglyphs ha graualy ecle

a the rse of Chrstaty force the abaomet of the paga

temples a the heroglyphc scrpt that was assocate wth them.

The last ate heroglyphc scrpto was care o a temple gate-

way o the sa of Phlae ear Aswa Upper Egypt o 24August AD 394. After ths fewer a fewer people coul rea her

oglyphs a ee smple scrptos such as 7i? }woul ot be uerstoo utl Champollo ally maage to

ecpher them

Fe ays ater arrg Alexara July 1 798 , the saats

were e to three groups. Gaspar Moge a ClaueLous

Berthollet accompae Napoleo, who let Alexara o 7 July,

leag a force to capture Caro The ext ay a group wet wth

Geeral Meou who was gog to Rosetta by sea a the rema

er staye Alexara wth Geera Kber. Axous to reach

Caro as qucly as possble, Napoleo ha alreay set forces le by

Geerals Desax a Reyer o a esert route to Damahur

teg to meet up wth them there The solers were ot properly equppe for such a march hag oly bee proe wth

ratos of ry bscuts a o water ass Oly a few maage to

cotaers for water beforeha, a the march egeerate

to a reletless search for somethg to quech ther thrst.

From the momet the troops le Alexara they were yet aga

harasse by bas of Beou, who ept up ther assault all the way

to Caro t was the Egypta summer, the hottest tme of the year,

a although they starte ther marches before aw as soo as

the su came up the solers suffere om the blsterg heat mae

worse by the thc materal of ther uforms a the lac of water

to lesse ther thrst. Those wells a csters ot sabotage by the

Beou were qucly empte the troops wth Desax ra most


47/367


of the wate often leaving none fo those folowing on behin with

Reynie When a cisten with wate was foun the toops fought to

get at it as thee was selom enough fo eveyone. With little o

none to spae to soten up the y bscuit the toops suffee fom

hunge as wel as thist. Sometimes they woul see a lae o wate

hole in the istance lush with vegetaton an woul un towas

it only to see it vanish: espeate fo wate an not having seen a

miage befoe the toops wee eceive tme an time again Gasp

a Monge late stuie miages an manage to explain whatcause them but on the mach fom Alexania to Caio they

cause such espa that many solies went ma an shot

themselves.

About 1 8 000 men set out om Aexania to Damanhu an a

few hune wee eithe ile by the Beoun committe suice

o ie of heat an thist Fom Napoleons point of view the

numbe of casualties was smal but the fotyvemile jouney was

unening anguish fo the toops leaving at least one man ea fo

evey 200 yas tavee an one of the ofces ecoe that they

left a tai of copses behin them. The moale of the solies

aleay low afte the sicening sea voyage the angeous laning

an the assault of Alexania was estoye by this mach. With

some justication toops an oces alie blame Napoeon anhs aministaton fo lac of foesight an inaequate suppies

an Napoleon became a too wel awae that a cushing an luca

tive victoy ove the Mamelues was essential fo estoing moale

Within the ecinng Ottoman Empie Egypt was still subject to

the ule of the sultans fom Constantinople but ha actualy come

to be ominate by the Mameues Mamuk is the Aabc wo fobought man an although the Mamelues wee bought as chil

slaves often fom the Caucasus they wee taine as waos an

automatically became fee men on eceiving a militay comman

The Mamelues fome the eal astocacy of Egypt iving in

luxuy on taxes squeeze om the est of the population Bans of

Mamelues une the local chiefs calle beys teoize the coun


48/367


ty ad occasioally made wa o the Ottoma Tuish amy the

two foemost beys ulig o behalf of the sulta at the time of Napo

leos iasio wee bahim Bey ad Muad Bey Kowig othigbut hosemaship illig ad extotio, Mamelues wee capable

of geat pesoal couage but could also eteat with spectacula

speed as Napoleo was soo to d out.

By 9 July all the suiig toops had eached Damahu, ad

Napoleo led the combied foce to l Rahmaiya o the Rie Nile.

Although at its lowest aual leel the Nile was still a substatialbody of wate ad the soldies became hysteical with joy They

thew themseles ito the wate ad eelled i it fo hous; some

died fom diig too much, too soo, afte suffeig so log fom

thist Fom hee Napoleo moed up the Nile to iestigate epots

that a foce of Mamelues ude Muad Bey was appoachig the

tow of Shuba Khit, eight miles to the south A heaily built cuel

ad cuig leade Muad Bey lied fo wa ad ee admitted

defeat despite ee beig ictoious. Napoleo was accompaied

by a lotilla of guboats o the Nile that had bee equisitioed as

taspots at Rosetta ad wee desiged to coute the Mamelue

guboats epoted to be with Muad Bey's amy They also fuc

tioed as taspots fo ocombatats icludig Gaspad Moge

ClaudeLouis Bethollet ad Paulie Cleopata FousThe Fech eached Shuba Khit o 1 3 July ad fo the st time

cofoted a Mamelue amy Although the Mamelues elied o

caaly they also had a foce of ifaty cosistig lagely of gyp

tia peasats amed oly with clubs. The Fech ifaty fomed

up i squaes with cao at the coes f each squae, ad what

little caaly they had was placed iside the squae fo potectio.

Puled by this fomatio the Mamelues eetheless expected

thei usual headlog chage to be effectie Mamelues wee

seldom captued i battle elyig o the speed of thei attac ad

eteat they wee eithe ictoious, eteatig apidly, o dead

Heaily amed with scimitas jaelis maces battle axes, dagges

ad cabies ad ofte cayig seeal pais of pistols, the


49/367


Mamelues were also richly dressed in brightly coloured sils and

muslins and each carried his personal fortune in coins and jewels

Their method of ghting was to charge rst ring their carbines

and then their pistols which they tossed behind them to be reco-

ered by their serants Throwing their jaelins they nally attaced

with a scimitar and some of them een gripped the reins in their

teeth and used two scimitars one in each hand.

For seeral hours the Mamelue caalry circled the French

squares looing for a wea point to attac but they only chargedwhen the two opposing lotillas of gunboats started to exchange

cannon re Once within range the barrage of cannon muset and

pistol re from the French squares repulsed the Mamelues before

they coud do any damage and after about an hour they retreated

to their origina positions. Meanwhile the French gunboats had

been getting the worst of the battle and een the ciilians had

joined in the ghting Napoleon ordered his troops to assist the gun

boats and soon aer a cannon scored a direct hit on the lagship of

the Mamelue lotilla which was destroyed in a spectacular explo-

sion This drew a burst of hysterical aughter from the French and

the Mamelue caalry turned and led followed by the rest of the

Mamelue army

Winning the battle at Shubra Khit raised the morale of theFrench troops for a time but Murad Bey and his army had escaped

The gruelling march towards Cairo was resumed and the slow

attrition of the French forces through heatstroe thirst and suicide

continued On 20 July as the French drew near to Cairo they

learned that Murad Bey had concentrated his forces on both sides

of the Nile at Embaba j ust north of the city and the next day atera twelehour march the French reached Embaba at two in the

aernoon in the worst heat of the day. The pyramids some ten

miles away were isible in the distance and so the battle became

nown as the Battle of the Pyramids. In his memoirs Napoleon

recorded that he addressed his troops and pointing to the pyramids

said Soldiers forty centuries oo down upon you.' It is doubtful


50/367


whethe many of the toops woud hae undestood o caed about

the signicance of the pyamids but in any case the sodies wee

deployed oe such a lage aea that only the few neaest Napoleon

would hae head him; this was moe liely a ema to his oces

athe than an attempt to inspe his toops with an appea to thei

supposed desie fo a place in histoy.

Fomed up in squaes the Fench moed out of ange of the

Mamelues entenched gun emplacements and pooed the

Mamelue caay to chage. The Fench held thei e untithe Mameues wee ess than fty yads away when it came the

olley of e stopped the chage in its tacs Fo anothe hou he

Mamelues continued to chage the squaes in ain and nally led

bac to thei entenched positions just as these wee being attaced

by the fowad toops unde Geneas Desaix and Reynie. Confu

sion among the Mamelues tuned into a out Muad Bey escaped

with some of his caaly while the majoity of the Mamelue infan-

ty ed acoss the Nile Maed ony by the escape of Muad Bey it

was the oewhelming ictoy that Napoeon had hoped fo and

the toops spent the next wee shing dead Mamelues out of the

Nile to loot thei gold jewels and othe aluables. The ictoy

poed to be the tuning point that Napoleon had needed to egain

contol of his disillusioned and potentially mutinous amy. Thenext day 2 2 July the leades of Caio sought to negotiate tems of

suende om Napoleon and two days late he enteed the city.

Fom landing the st toops at the beginning of July 1 79 8 it

had taen the Fench nealy a month to secue Alexandia and

Caio duing which time the Bitish leet unde the command of

Nelson continued to seach the easten Mediteanean fo theFench expedition. Hoatio Nelson had enteed the nay in 1 770

and seed many yeas in the West ndies Blinded in the ight eye

at Cosica in 1 794 he had ost his ight am at Teneife thee yeas

late yet he was still a fomidabe eaadmial and a maste of

naal stategy. On August Nelson aied at Alexandia and on

leaning that the Fench leet was anchoed a few miles to the east


51/367


and wth the wnd n hs faou he mmedately saled on to Abou

The Fench commande Admal Bueys had placed the Fench

tanspots and smalle shps n the habous at Alexanda but

feang the shallows and contay wnds thee he had anchoed

the lagest washps seenteen n all n a cued defense lne

acoss Abou Bay The Fench salos wee pmaly concened

wth ndng supples and oe onequate of them wee on shoe

wth some foagng as fa away as Alexanda and Rosetta Despte

an appeaance of stength the shps wee only pepaed fo anattac om the seawad sdethe guns on the landwad sde wee

not manned and some wee obstucted by stoes and baggage

It was two n the aenoon when the leadng shps of Neson's

eet ounded the headland of Abou. Dung the long seach of

the Medteanean Neson and hs captans had found plenty of

tme to dscuss tactcs and to the supse of the Fench the Btsh

leet mmedately pepaed to attac. The Fench captans at a con-

feence aboad the lagshp LOrint wee foced to scamble bac to

the shps By fou o'cloc all fouteen shps of the Btsh leet had

cleaed the headland and the battle began just two hous late

wth lttle daylght left As soon as he ealzed the dange Bueys

sgnalled fo the men on shoe to etun and then pepaed fo bat

tle but hs lne of shps was anchoed moe than one and a halfmles fom shoe and moe than half a mle om the shallows that

would hae potected the landwad sde of the Fench leet. The

eadng Btsh shps too the hghly dangeous gamble of salng

down the landwad sde of the enemy lne of shps so allowng the

Btsh eet to wo ts way down both sdes of the Fench lne wth

two Btsh shps engagng each Fench essel as they went theunengaged Fench shps fathe down the lne coud do lttle to

help

The batte contnued though the eenng and nght wth each

Fench shp beng ht by at least two boadsdes fo eey boadsde

t managed to e On boad the Vanguard Nelson was suffeng

badly fom toothache and befoe the stat of the acton he had told


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T H E L A ND O F E G Y P

his ocers Before ths time tomorrow I sha hae gaied a Peer

age or [a tomb i] Westmister Abbey At about eightthirty i the

eeig he was struc the forehead by a piece of iro ad a lap

of si hug dow from the woud oer his eft eye effectiely

bidig him. As he colapsed to the arms of Captai Berry he

murmured I am led; remember me to my wife he surgeo o

board coiced Nelso that the woud was ot fatal ad after t

was treated he regaied some of hs sght ad was abe to go bac o

dec for a short whie where he wtessed the destructio of theFrech agship 'Oint whch bew up with a lash isbe Aex

adria ad a blast that was felt up to twetye miles away.

Capta Berry wrote that: L'Oriet bew up with a most treme

dous exploso A awful pause ad deathlie sece for about

three mutes esued whe the wrec of the masts yards &c

whch had bee carried to a ast heght fell dow ito the water

ad o board the surroudig Shps '

he battle was a complete ictory for the Brtish wth oy two

Frech warships escapig. Frech casualties were cosiderabe

1 700 illed ad 1 500 wouded ad the Frech also lost arious

stores that had ot bee uoaded from the shps icludig equip

met belogig to the saats aboard the lagshp 'Ont there

had bee gold sler ad jewels looted from Mata durg the

oyage to Egypt. A Frech team of archaeologsts has relocated the

site of the wrec of ·Ont ad successfully recoered gold cois

ad a broze plaque iscrbed with its ame as well as recogzable

parts of the essel ad remais of some of the crew.

he destructio of Oint ad the other warshps was the

destructio of Napoeos ambitio of coquerg the East.Athough Napoleo put a brae face o it ad still taled of eadig

a army to Idia the Frech were ow marooed i Egypt They

had trasport ships but o warships to protect them from the Brt

sh Nay which threateed their supply route from Frace Much

more sgcat tha the military outcome were the politca co

sequeces: wth the Frech expedito so weaeed urey broe


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off negotiations with France and joined the alliance of Frances ene

mies and eentualy a Turish army would be gathered to march

against the French in Egypt. The loss of the gold and siler aboard

the warships was also a blow, because rather than follow his usual

practice of alowing his sodiers to lie of the land taing whateer

they wanted, Napoleon was attempting to win oer the natie pop

ulation by paying for eerything the army needed. He was rapidly

running out of money

The ictory at Abouir Bay was the greatest that had beenachieed in the war against France and the rst major setbac for

Napoeon up to then haied as inincible in French propaganda.

Nelson became a British national hero and was heralded as Lord

Nelson in Th Tims of London een before King George II had

raised him to the peerage Rather than the Battle of Abouir Bay it

became nown as the Battle of the Nile and Nelson became BaronNelson of the Nile, with an annual pension of £2 000 for the rest of

his life. Among many other honours and gifts that Nelson receied

was one of macabre practicality from Captain Halowell of the Swift

su one of the warships that had taen part in the sining of

LOint who presented Nelson with a cofn The letter om Hal

lowell accompanying the gift began, My Lord Herewith I send you

a Cofn made of part of LOrients Main mast, that when you are

tired of this life you may be buried in one of your own Trophies. On

9 January 1 806, this cofn with the body of Lord Nelson inside

was lowered into a aut in St Pauls Cathedra in London

For the saants, the Battle of the Nie meant the loss of most of

their reference boos and many scientic instruments as well as the

hope of a swit return to France after their tas of recording thecountry was complete. At Alexandria the initial reaction was fear

that the British leet might now attac the port, and so the inentor

Nicolas Cont deised furnaces to proide redhot cannon balls for

use against the enemy ships and a loating pump to deal with res

Cont later set up worshops in Cairo, where he and his assistants

set to wor on replacements for much of the scientic and military


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suppies that had been lost the rst problem being to produce

the toos necessary for the manufacture of precision equipment

Among the scientic instruments manufactured by these work

shops were compasses microscopes telescopes surgical apparatus

and drawing and sureying equipment whie sword blades bugles

coth and een uniform buttons were made for the army

On 22 August 1 79 8 Napoleon set up the Egyptian Institute of

Arts and Sciences at Cairo selecting a committee of seen who were

to elect further members The Institute had four sections (Mathe-matics Physics Politica Economy and Literature and Arts) and

incuded the most distinguished and most promising of the saants

with the mathematician Joseph Fourier appointed as its Perpetua

Secretary. The nstitutes achieements were of lasting importance

whose benets remained long after the ghting in Egypt was forgot

ten and when the massie loss of life at the Battle of the Nile and

Napoleons campaigns in Egypt oer the next two years had become

merely footnotes in history. Napoleon attached great importance to

the Institute and to the work of the saants in general which was

relected in the accommodation proided for them in the suburb of

Nasriya at Cairo in a building complex centred around a former

Mameluke palace Here there were meeting rooms a chemical lab

oratory library obseratory printing press zooogical andbotanical gardens areas for agricultural experiments Conts

workshops and een mineralogical and archaeological colections

as well as a smal natura history museum The saants ied in

rooms in the palace and in some of the surrounding houses hold-

ing forma meetings in what had once been the harem while

informal meetings took place eery eening in the gardensThe purpose of the Institute was wideranging the research

study and pubication of natural industrial and historical facts about

Egypt and the propagation of the resuting knowledge. From eary

on the Institute adopted a multidisciplinary approach to the prob

lems presented to it and in time it was responsible for the building of

hospitals irrigation schemes sewage systems quarantine stations to


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combat fectous dseases ad a posta etwor as we as projects

to study amost every aspect of the coutr The vared wor of the

Isttute was pubshed om 1 809 to 1828 as the ptin d

Egypt (Descrpto of Egypt) much of whch was devoted to the

atqutes of the coutry a very mportat advace for Egyptoogy

(athough Egyptoogy was ot a term used ut the mdeteeth

cetury) ot east because some cases t became the oy record of

moumets that were destroyed the years after the Frech eft

Egypt The egravgs of herogyphs o the moumets that weregraduay pubshed became a prme source of matera for a the

woudbe decpherers but ut those egravgs were compared

wth the moumets themseves after the herogyphs had bee

decphered obody reaized just how the accuraces ad errors

these egravgs aso ed reseachers astray

Oce estabshed the Nasrya dstrct the savats bega toejoy themseves ad athough each pursued hs ow specaty

they foud the uprecedeted teracto wth other experts exh

aratg They were fascated by everythg that was beg

dscovered about the coutry ad graduay accmatzed to ts cus-

oms Severa savats too to drg Tursh coffee ad smog

the argheh (watercooed ppe) ad they et ther beards grow

havg dscovered that a shave ch was regarded as the mar of a

save but ther ethusasm sedom exteded to Caro tsef. Most

soders ad savats cosstety agreed o ther opo of the cty

The egeer Vers du Terrage whe admrg the beauty of

Caros 3 00 mosques was we aware that the streets were qute ds-

gustg ad the artst Deo wrote dejectedy that he saw Caro

a huge popuato egthy spaces to cross but ot oe beautfustreet ot oe e moumet: a sge vast square but whch has

the appearace of a ed . . paaces surrouded by was whch

sadde the streets more tha they embesh them the vg quar

ters of the poor more sovey tha esewhere. Napoeos vew of

Caro wth ts 3 00000 habtats was of a cty wth the words

ugest rabbe


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Whe the Frech faled to warm to Caro, may of ts habtats

dd ot le the Frech who offeded local customs ad regous

tradtos may ways by forbddg the bura of the dead how

eer holy the teror of the cty by leyg a buldg tax that

requred the examato of documets about buldgs that were

cosdered prate ad sometmes had a relgous sgcace ad

by may mor regulatos, such as eforcg the sweepg of

streets ad clearg away rubbsh The publc behaour of the

Frech was ofte regarded as mmoral by the habtats, whocoud ot uderstad why they made wdespread use of female

prosttutes ad ot youg boys. Worse stl the me became ser

ously worred whe ther ow wes ad daughters bega to

mtate the eedom of Europea ways, appearg publc ueed

the compay of the aders: whe the Frech ost cotro of

Egypt 1 80 1 , may of these wome were beheaded for ther co

duct. The llfeelg towards the Frech was exploted by regous

faatcs ad by agets of the Mamelues who promsed that Otto

ma armes were o ther way to dre the Frech from Egypt ad

that Mosems shoud rse up holy war agast the Frech Ee

though such calls for a holy war were shouted from the marets of

the mosques durg prayers (e tmes a day the Frech remaed

uaware of the stuato ad the uprsg of 2 1 October too themcompletely by surprse.

The reolt started early the morg wth barrcades beg

bult the streets, armed me gatherg at the mosques ad the

shops cosg dow The Frech troops were put o alert at eght

ocloc but the Frech admstrato stl dd ot apprecate the

dager ad Napoleo ad three of hs geerals ee let to spectsome fortcatos beg bult outsde the ct By te o'cloc the

ews that there was a wdespread uprsg reached Napoleo ad

he hurred bac to d bodes the streets res breag out

across the cty ad the oMoslem areas uder attac At Geeral

Caffarells house the mob lled four saats ad looted or

destroyed may scetc strumets.


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Only the Citadel the barracs the army headquarters at

Esbeiya Square and the buidings of the Egypt Institute remained

in French hands. Having control of most of the city the mob began

looting the warehouses regardless of whether they were owned by

Christians or Moslems. The Egypt Institute two miles from Esbeiya

Square became surrounded by a hostile crowd and hep only

arrived in the evening when a company of grenadiers brought

forty musets that few of the savants new how to use. The mathe

matician Gaspard Monge organized the defence of the Instituteargely to protect the instruments and equipment stored there but

the night passed quietly and the next morning the savants held off

their attacers for two hours with sporadic muset re until two

French army patros came to their rescue. To restore order Napo

eon concentrated on the centre of the insurrection the El Azhar

Mosque which he bombarded with artilery Three infantry battaions with bayonets xed and 300 cavalry with drawn sabres then

converged on the mosque and too it by storm Several hundred

rebes were captured and the mosque was systematically looted

and deliberately desecrated By nightfall the ghting was over; the

French had lost about 3 00 men while up to 5 000 inhabitants may

have been iled.

Athough the rebelion in Cairo was by far the worst uprisings

occurred in other places under French rule all of which were

quicly suppressed but there was still a danger from the Mame

lues Aer his defeat at the Batte of the Pyramids Murad Bey had

escaped and was gathering another army. On 2 5 August 79 8

some eight wees before the October uprisings General Desaix had

set out for Upper Egypt in search of Murad taing with him aninfantry force of 2 8 6 1 men and two ed guns on a journey of over

3000 miles that was to last many months Although Desaix was a

briliant general the campaign coud not possibly succeed due to

Murads ability to exploit the desert terrain to his advantage but

this epic journey was to have a lasting impact on Egyptoogy and

the study of hierogyphs because for much of the time Desaix was


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accompaned by the atst Vant Denon. Catchng up wth Desax

n ealy Noembe Denon jouneyed up and down the Nle Valley

fo nne months wth the foces commanded by Geneal Desax andby Geneal Bellad who had just aed wth enfocements.

At age ftyone Domnque Vant Denon was one of the oldest

of the saants and had aleady enjoyed a dstngushed caee

hang once been pat of the Cout of Lous XV and a faoute of

Madame Pompadou. Afte studyng at and lteatue he had po

duced dawngs pantngs and seeal books ncludng one ofponogaphc dawngs and wtten a successfu play He was an

expeenced taelle and had been a dplomat n Russa Sweden

Swtzeland and Italy. At the stat of the Fench Reoluton he was

n Vence and although he managed to etun to Fance and hae

hs name emoed fom the poscbed lst all hs popety had been

conscated and he was foced to eke out a meage lng by sellng

hs dawngs and wtng Denon became one of the ccle of atsts

and ntellectuals that fequented the Pas salon of osephne

whee he met he husband Napoeon Suspcous of Denons con

nectons wth the peReolutonay monachy and consdeng

hm too old Napoleon at st efused to nclude hm n the gypt

expedton It was Josephne who pesuaded Napoleon to nte

Denon theeby settng n moton a sequence of eents that wouldbng ancent gypt to the attenton of the westen wold and bng

gyptan nluence to seea decades of uopean styles and

fashons.

Snce landng n gypt, Denon had spent eey moment he could

sketchng all that he saw and had aleady bult up a lage collecton

of dawngs He woed about unnng out of pencls snce the

saants wee always shot of supples and constanty equested

moe pencls fom Cont who manufactued them n hs Cao

wokshops. When suppes dd not catch up wth Desaxs amy

Denon mposed pencs by meltng lead bullets. The shotage of

pencls was not so seous a poblem fo hm as the shotage of tme.

Fo safety he always had to tael wth the amy whch moed fast


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in pursut of Murad Bey seldom stoppng long in any one place and

he usualy ony had a matter of mnutes in whch to mae a com

pete setch before being forced to move on once moreThe army moved southwards up the Nile Valey hemmed in by

desert on either sde The disappointment o Egypts ancient

remains with virtuay nothing at Alexandria and ony pyramids

and the Sphinx near Caro was soon repaced by amazement at the

incredibe temples and tombs of Upper Egypt. Denon snatched

every leeting opportunity to explore their remains and mae rapidsetches soon becomng aware that amost a the ruins were cov

ered in heroglyphs The lmitatons of hs setching were

immedately apparent and he accurately summed up the problem

of the heroglyphs It would tae months to read them supposing

the anguage was nown it would tae years to copy them' When

the army reached Dendera the sght of the temple so amazed the

soldiers and ocers aie that they spontaneousy let the column

and rushed to explore it. or once Denon had the rest of the day for

drawing but lie the sodiers he was overwhelmed by the magn

cence of the structure and hardly new what to draw rst. Each

acet o the architecture every reef sculpture every pantng the

profuse hierogyphic nscriptions that covered almost the whoe

surface of the tempe inside and out a called for hs attention atonce. He recorded that Pencil in hand I passed rom one object to

another . . I had not eyes or hands enough and too smal a head to

see draw and cassiy everythng that struc me. I felt ashamed of

the nadequate drawngs that I was mang o such sublime things

Totally absorbed Denon setched furiousy untl the lght aied

and only then dd he realze that the army had gone al except hsriend General Beiard who had stayed to eep a protective eye on

hm; they were obliged to gaop ther horses to catch up with the

army beore night fell

Dendera was the rst major ancient site that the army had seen

close up and it prooundly afected many o the soldiers Bult n a

competely unnown stye of architecture the temple was covered


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T H E L A D O F E G Y P T

in hieroglyphs, and on the ceiling of one room was carved a marvel

lous crcular representaton of the zodiac Denon was astonished by

the ruins and recorded: I would ie to be able to excte in thereaders mind the sensation that experienced was too much

amazed.' That evening a junor ofcer approached him and

expressed what many others felt: Since came to Egypt fooled by

everything, have been constantly depressed and il Dendera has

cured me what 1 saw today has repaid me for a my wearness

whatever may happen to me durng the rest of this expedition, shal congratulate myself all my lfe for having been in it.

The army contnued to chase after the Mamelue leader Murad

Bey and Denon contnued to setch whenever he could, generaly

on my nee, or standing or even on horsebac: I have never been

abe to complete a single one to my liing because for a whole year

have not once found a tabe sufciently steady for using a ruler, '

but on occasons frendy soldiers supported his drawng board and

shaded hs wor from the erce sunght. On 2 7 January 1 79 9 the

army rounded a bend and saw the panorama of ancient Thebes for

the rst time and n sheer amazement the solders halted and burst

nto spontaneous applause. For Denon it meant yet more frustra-

tion, because the army could not stop and all he could do was gallop

from temple to tempe to the necropolis and bac again, with a cav-alry escort before riding hard to catch up with the army

Continung south past other ancient stes, they traveed 2 50 mes

in ten days, arrvng at Aswan on February: the Mamelues had

left just two days before. Here General Belliard recorded in his diary

that the awesome cataracts and huge desert seemed to mean that

nature was sayng Stop go no futh After two days at Aswan

they began the march bac north and over the next ty days cov-

ered about 5 50 mes as they moved up and down the Nle

searchng for the Mameues

Because the army passed some of the ancient stes several tmes

Denon was gradually abe to amass a seres of setches of each site

and his folder of drawings became increasingly precious it was


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2 T E K E Y S O F E G Y P T

nee out of his sight an he use it as a pillow when he slept. He

also collecte whatee potable antiquities he coul, such as pot

tey essels, statuettes an een the mummie foot of a woman he

foun in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings. This foot late inspie

the shot stoy L Pid d Mmi (The Mummys Foot) publishe in

1 840 by Thophile Gautie although not the st wok of ction

to featue a mummy, it state a whole gene of omance an

hoo stoies that woul late geneate a seies of hoo lms. The

pie of Denons collection was a papyus oll with hieoglyphicwiting that he acquie in Thebes while negotiating the suen

e of some sheikhs, a mummy was bought to him with the

papyus oll clutche in its han, an he was almost oecome with

emotion My oice faile me . . I int know what to o with my

teasue, so aai of estoying it I in't ae touch this book, the

most ancient of books known up to this ay Without thinking

that the witing of my book was as unknown as the language in

which it was witten, I imagine fo a moment that I hel the m

pndium of Egyptian liteatue

While Denon i what he coul to eco an collect antiquities,

the amy sometimes manage to catch up with the Mamelukes an

foce a battle Muas tactics wee always the same: aiing in an

aea a few ays befoe the Fench, he woul sti up the local peasants with his popagana an then enlist o conscipt them into his

amy. When the Fench attacke, Mua mae sue that the peas

ants took the bunt of the battle, an while the Fench wee

occupie ghting them, the Mamelukes oe off into the eset.

Although the peasants wee kille in thei thousans, the Fench

ineitably tene to lose moe men than the Mamelukes, whomoe to anothe place in the Nile Valley to continue thei wa of

attition with a fesh contingent of peasants. Fom the Fench point

of iew it seeme that this woul continue until they ha no amy

left, but thee was gowing issension among the Mameluke beys

themseles, who tene to un away as soon as they engage the

Fench in battle, hoping to pesee thei own men while the


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French illed the followers of their rials. B y midMarch 1 79 9

Murads forces began to disintegrate leaing the French theoreti

caly in control but they could not gie up the pursuit as the beys

could combine again into a force large enough to oerwhelm them

Desaix split his army many times to try to deal with the dispersed

Mamelue bands while a separate force under Belliard continued

to march up and down the Nile Valley ghting the Mamelues

whereer they could be found

Also in March a group of engineers led by Chief Engineer PierreGirard was sent om Cairo to join General Belliard in order to study

the Rier Nile and see how it could be used to increase the fertility

of the land. Two of these engineers Prosper Jollois and douard de

Villiers du Terrage were particularly impressed by the ancient

ruins and were determined to record as much as possible a resole

that was strengthened when on 2 5 May they met Viant Denon at

Qena who showed them his drawings of the incredible ruins at

Dendera. While stationed at Qena on the opposite ban of the Nile

they made many isits to Dendera producing measured plans sec

tions and perspecties and studying the architecture and building

methods As engineers rather than artists their approach to

recording the monuments was scientic and their record of the

zodiac was far more precise than that achieed by Denon. Girardstrongly disapproed of their interest in the ruins and did what he

could to stop them but they managed to complete their wor on the

hydroogy of the Nile and still hae time at the monuments and

were een supported against Girard by General Belliard who had

been coninced by Denon of the importance of thei wor. As well

as Dendera the two engineers isited the island of Philae nearAswan the temples at Kom Ombo Edfu and Esna and the temples

and tombs of Thebes maing plans and architectural drawings as

well as copies of hundreds of hieroglyphs Lie Denon before them

they ran out of the pencils made by Cont at Cairo and had to

improise by melting bullets and pouring the lead into hollow

reeds


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On 1 9 Juy 1 79 9 Napoeon set up two commissons of saants

ed by the mathematcians Joseph Fourier and Louis Costaz to

mae a scentic study and accurate record of the ancient monu-

ments in Upper Egypt but t was ony when Denon returned to

Cairo in the mdde of August that they appreciated the scae of this

tas. As Denon began to reate a he had seen and to show them his

drawngs and artifacts they were competey astounded and rea-

zed that the few monuments n Lower Egypt incuding the

pyramids were nothing in comparison with the wonders of Den-dera or Thebes. ndeed Denons edence highighted just how

mportant were the hierogyphs with which amost eerything

seemed to be coered. If they coud decipher the hierogyphs they

woud be abe to understand the monuments but for now a they

coud do was copy them. In the journas wrtten by the saants they

ony described the physica appearance of a these hierogyphsbeng unabe to comment on ther meaning. The two commissons

et Caro on 0 August meeting up with Joois and Viiers when

they reached Upper Egypt Fourier and Costaz wisey decided not to

repeat the wor of these two engineers but to concentrate on what

was sti wating to be recorded The resut was a mass of notes

drawings papyri mummies statuettes and a whoe range of other

atfacts that were carried bac to Caro for further study

On the same day that Napoeon set up the commissions to study

Upper Egypt one of the cues to deciphering the hierogyphs was

discoered at Rosetta. A party of sodiers was strengthening the

defences of the diapidated Fort Rachid renamed Fort Juen by the

French a coupe of mes northwest of Rosetta A ruined wa was

beng demoshed when a sodier caed DHautpou uncoered adamaged dar grey stone sab with inscrptions coering one side.

The ofcer in charge Lieutenant Perre Franois Xaier Bouchard

thought that t coud be of some mportance and informed hs supe

rior MicheAnge Lancret On examning it Lancret found there

were three inscriptions in three dfferent scripts: one was in Gree

which he coud recognze one was in hierogyphs and one was in


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T H E AND O F E G Y P T 3 5

another unnown scrpt Once transated the Gree text showed

that it was a decree by the priests of Memphis dated 7 March 1 9 6

B. • commemorating toemy V Epiphanes who rued Egypt om04 to 1 80 B t was immediatey assumed that the three inscrip

tions represented the identica text n three dfferent scrpts and

anguages thereby prodng the ey to deciphering hierogyphs

The substantia stone neary four feet high and weighing three

quarters

adkins - the keys of egypt the obsession to decipher egyptian hieroglyphs

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