ABSTRACT
To demonstrate the long-term character of the conflict-heritage relationship, this chapter explores how military action, politics and archaeology became interdependent in the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798-1801), and how it resulted in the subject of Egyptology being born. In 1798, Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, commanding a Royal Naval force, sailed into Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. There he found and successfully engaged a French fleet. The destruction left the French army effectively stranded in Egypt, although it was initially successful in its campaign against the Ottoman Empire. Alongside the 40,000 French soldiers was a group of 167 ‘savants’ who Napoleon had personally insisted take part in the campaign. Their role was to map Egypt, not just geographically, but historically. Indeed, Napoleon’s aim was that France should take a lead not only in Egypt, but in any forum where Egypt was discussed. With France failing on the ground, the Description de l’Égypte, the study of Egypt, took on greater importance. This part of the conflict was even fought over the ancient Egyptian language, with experts in France and Britain competing to decipher and claim precedence. The physical conflict played a pivotal role here, with the Rosetta Stone, a key element in the deciphering of the hieroglyphic script, being seized from the French by the British as war booty.
