'Napoleonic Egyptology': The progression of views held by Europe about Egyptian culture during the early 19th century

E.A. Chiglintsev , N.A. Shadrina*, G.Yu. Artyukh**

Kazan Federal University, Kazan, 420008 Russia

E-mail: *shadrina_nata@list.ru, **gleb.artyuh@yandex.ru

Received April 5, 2022


ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Full text PDF

DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2022.3.161-171

For citation: Chiglintsev E.A., Shadrina N.A., Artyukh G.Yu. “Napoleonic Egyptology”: The progression of views held by Europe about Egyptian culture during the early 19th century. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2022, vol. 164, no. 3, pp. 161–171. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2022.3.161-171. (In Russian)

Abstract

This article discusses how the views about the heritage of Egyptian culture were shaped in the minds of the European participants of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. The origins of European Egyptology are considered. The extensive contribution of the Arab-Islamic culture of Egypt, which retained both the archaic traces of ancient Egypt and the traditions of Hellenistic and Christian Egypt, into this process is analyzed. The term “Napoleonic Egyptology” is introduced. We defined it as a system of authentic written and visual sources that had a major influence on the initial perception of the ancient Egyptian culture and became the basis of subsequent Egyptological studies carried out by special institutions and destined to help Europeans to have a better understanding of the value of the ancient Egyptian civilization. Of particular interest is how the cultural layers of Egyptian culture of that time either stood out or merged in the image of the East that was developed by the Europeans who took part in the Egyptian campaign. It is emphasized that scholars who accompanied Napoleon's troops had no idea of any connection between the ancient (Egyptian) and modern (Islamic) components of the regional culture. This hypothesis is substantiated by the structure of the book “Des­cription of Egypt” with its separate volumes devoted to Egyptian antiquities and the Islamic Egypt. In this work, the images of ancient Egypt and modern East are parallel. The idea largely underpinned the evolution of European studies of the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Keywords: Egyptology, Napoleon Bonaparte, Egyptian campaign, ancient Egyptian culture, Arab-Islamic culture of Egypt

References

  1. Cardini F. Evropa i islam: istoriya neponimaniya [Europe and Islam: The History of a Misunderstanding]. St. Petersburg, 2007. 326 p. (In Russian)
  2. Charles-Roux F. Les origines de l'expédition d'Égypte. Paris, Plon-Nourrit, 1910. 359 p. (In French)
  3. Correspondance de Napoléon Ier. En 32 volumes. T. 3. Paris, H. Plon, J. Dumaine, 1859. 539 p. (In French)
  4. Chandler D. Voennye kampanii Napoleona [The Campaigns of Napoleon]. Moscow, Tsentrpoligraf, 2000. 693 p. (In Russian)
  5. Napoleon I. Egipetskii pokhod: memuary imperatora [The Egyptian Campaign: The Emperor's Memoirs]. Moscow, RIMIS, 2011. 300 p. (In Russian)
  6. Berthier L.-A. Mémoires du maréchal Berthier, prince de Neuchatel et de Wagram, majorgénéral des armèes françaises. Campagne d'Égypte. T. 1. Paris, Baudouin freres, 1827. 466 p. (In French)
  7. Des­cription de l'Égypte, ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'expedition de l'armée française. T. I–XXXVII. Panckoucke (Ed.). Paris, De l'Imprimerie impériale, 1821–1829. (In French)
  8. Martin P. Histoire de l'expédition française en Égypte. T. I. Paris, J.M. Eberhart, 1815. VI, 412 p. (In French)
  9. Prusskaya E.A. The image of the East in the views of the French on the eve and during Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt. Extended Abstract of Cand. Hist. Diss. Moscow, 2012. 89 p. (In Russian)
  10. Prusskaya E.A. The image of the East in the diaries and letters of the participants of the Egyptian campaign (1798–1801). In: Frantsuzskii ezhegodnik 2014 [French Yearbook 2014]. Vol. 2: France and the East. Moscow, IVI Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2014, pp. 166–188. (In Russian)
  11. Prusskaya E.A. Frantsuzskaya ekspeditsiya v Egipet 1798–1801: vzaimnoe vospriyatie dvukh tsivilizatsii [The French Campaign in Egypt of 1798–1801: Mutual Perception of the Two Civilzations]. Moscow, ROSPEN, 2016. 183 p. (In Russian)
  12. Prusskaya E.A. Thirty years later: The Egyptian campaign of 1798–1801 and the French conquest of Algeria in 1830. In: Frantsuzskii ezhegodnik 2017: Frantsiya i Sredizemnomor'e v Novoe i Noveishee vremya [French Yearbook 2017: France and the Mediterranean in the Modern and Contemporary Eras]. Moscow, IVI Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2017, pp. 94–112. (In Russian)
  13. Promyslov N.V., Prusskaya E.A. The East as perceived by Napoleon's soldiers: From Egypt to Russia. In: Frantsuzskii ezhegodnik 2013: “Russkaya kampaniya” Napoleona: sobytiya, obrazy, pamyat' [French Yearbook 2013: Napoleon's “Russian campaign”: Events, Images, Memories]. Moscow, IVI Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2013, pp. 127–143. (In Russian)
  14. Savary C. Lettres sur l'Egypte, Où l'on offre le parallele des mouers anciennes et modernes de ses habitans, où l'on décrit l'état, le commerce [etc.]. T. 1. Paris, chez Onfroi, 1785. 351 p. (In French)
  15. Volney M.C-F. Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte, Pendant Les Annees 1783, 1784, & 1785. T. 1. Paris, Volland, Dessene, 1787. 383 p. (In French)
  16. Volney M.C-F. Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte, Pendant Les Annees 1783, 1784, & 1785. T. 2. Paris, Volland, Dessene, 1822. 450 p. (In French)
  17. Las Cases E. Memorial Svyatoi Eleny, ili Vospominaniya ob imperatore Napoleone [The Memorial of Saint Helena, or Memoirs of the Emperor Napoleon]. Book I. Moscow, Zakharov, 2014. 704 p. (In Russian)
  18. Haag M. Istoriya Egipta [The Rough Guide to History of Egypt]. Moscow, AST “Astrel'”, 2009. 255 p. (In Russian)
  19. Zelenev E.I. Egipet: Srednie veka. Novoe vremya [Egypt. Middle Ages. Modern Era]. St. Petersburg, Izd. S.-Peterb. Univ., 1999. 340 p. (In Russian)
  20. Bierman I.A. Art and architecture in the medieval period. In: The Cambridge History of Egypt. Petry C.F. (Ed.). Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008, pp. 339–374.
  21. Denon V. Voyages dans la basse et la haute Egypte pendant les campagnes de Bonaparte en 1798 et 1799. Paris, 1817 [s.a]. XXIV. 362 p. (In French)
  22. Brend B. Iskusstvo islama [Islamic Art]. Moscow, Fair, 2008. 334 p. (In Russian)
  23. El Daly O. Egyptology: The Missing Millennium. Ancient Egypt in Medieval Arabic Writing. London, UCL Press, 2005. 258 p.

The content is available under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.