2023-11-23 03:28:06
With the opening of the film “Napoleon” by director Ridley Scott, coinciding with the Thanksgiving holiday, scenes from the film are raising controversy, especially about the fact that Napoleon fired cannons at the pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
The newspaper reported,The New York Times“There is no evidence that the French invaders fired artillery at the pyramids, or that Napoleon’s forces fired at the nose of the Sphinx.
“He certainly did not fire shots at them,” Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, told the newspaper. “From what we know, Napoleon had a great appreciation for the Sphinx and the pyramids and used them as a way to encourage his forces to greater glory,” she added.
In an interview with the newspaperThe TimesIn London, the director said when asked if Napoleon actually intended to blow up the Egyptian pyramids: “I don’t know if he did that… but it was a quick way to say that he took Egypt.”
Some historians have criticized director Scott, but many hope that “Napoleon” will spark interest in the events that inspired the film. Although Napoleon did not literally fire any projectiles at the pyramids, his invasion of Egypt had a profound impact on Egypt’s cultural heritage and how the world understands it today.
said Alexander Mikabridze, a professor at Louisiana State University in Shreveport who specializes in Napoleonic history. Napoleon’s invasion also resulted in a complex scientific and cultural legacy, and he added: “It was the beginning of Egyptology, the beginning of this fascination with Egypt and the desire to explore Egyptian history and Egyptian culture.”
The French campaign in Egypt from 1798 to 1801 was driven by Napoleon’s colonial ambitions and the desire to thwart British influence. But in addition to amassing an army of about 50,000 men, Napoleon made the unusual decision to invite more than 160 scientists, in fields such as botany, geology, humanities and others, to accompany the invasion.
Scholars documented Egypt’s natural and cultural landscape, which they eventually compiled into a seminal publication, 1809, containing detailed entries about the Giza pyramid complex.
This was one reason historians know that Napoleon visited the pyramids, as depicted in Scott’s film, even though he is unlikely to have considered the structures as military targets.
In their efforts to document Egypt’s vast archaeological heritage, French scientists seized several important artifacts, including the Rosetta Stone, known as the “Rosetta Stone,” a trilingual inscribed rock that proved instrumental in deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
The stone and much of the other spoils ended up in British hands after the collapse of French control over Egypt in 1801. By then, Napoleon had returned to France.
After the failed campaign, news of Egypt’s cultural wonders spread throughout Europe and launched a new wave of global Egyptian obsession. This insatiable appetite for Egyptian antiquities has led to centuries of exploration, excavation, and exploitation of the region’s vast material culture.
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