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