described the ancient Egyptians in 1824 as ‘a people who provided the basis
of human civilization, who were theWrst in the race of the arts’ (quoted in
Gran-Aymerich 1998: 81). Despite the importance given to Pharaonic monu-
ments, the Roman past of Egypt was not forgotten: Napoleon took to Egypt
theIliad, as Alexander the Great had done, Xenophon’sAnabasisand Plu-
tarch’sParallel Lives. Classical symbols appeared even in books representing
the Egyptian past such as theDescription de l’E ́gypte, in whose frontispiece
Napoleon was depicted in his chariot like Apollo and Alexander. The French
imagined themselves as the personiWcation of the Muse of the Arts who had
revealed ancient Egypt to the Greeks, for they were now spreading its know-
ledge to the civilized world, as depicted in the ceiling mural in one of the
Egyptian rooms of the Louvre (Reid 2002: 141–2).
Similar to his behaviour in Rome, Napoleon shipped back home some
Egyptian antiquities, as well as many other items of a varied nature collected
in Egypt, including natural history collections. Whereas previous generations
had contented themselves with drawing and studying ancient monuments
and archaeological objects, in the nineteenth century the growth of museums
as centres of public education demanded a collection of objects for display. As
in Rome, the seizure of antiquities was justiWed as a measure of security, as an
act of rescue, as leaving the antiquities in Egypt would have meant their
destruction. It was also part of the French mission civilisatrice beyond
Europe. Collecting was put on the service of the state, helping to reinvent
Egypt in the eyes of the Europeans (JasanoV2005: 124). The antiquities,
however, never arrived at the Louvre. The French capitulation at Alexandria
in 1801 meant that, after some negotiations, their scientists were able to keep
Wfty-Wve cases of non-archaeological specimens and scientiWc papers. With
these the French scientists were able to publish theDescription de l’Egypte
(Wrst edition, nine volumes, 1808–22; second edition, 37 volumes, 1821–30),
an encyclopaedic, major scholarly production, and an archaeological land-
mark. All large antiquities were handed over to the British, including the
Rosetta Stone. They reached the British Museum in 1802, only to be stored in
a wooden shed, due to theWnancial impossibility of building a proper place
for their exhibition (but see JasanoV2005: 222–3). Perhaps signiWcantly, only
when the Towneley collection of classical sculpture was bought did the British
government fund the construction of a new building where both collections
were displayed from 1806. Yet, the marginality of Egyptian antiquities would
linger for decades (Miller 1973: 96–100).
Over the following years, exhibition of Egyptian antiquities in the major
European museums became common starting with an exhibition at the
Egyptian Museum of Turin, Italy, an institution opened by Carlo Felice of
Savoy (1765–1831) in 1824, with collections bought from the French consul
The French Revolution 75