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Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt

Author: Nina Burleigh
Publisher: HarperCollins
$25.95 Cloth (286 P.)
ISBN: 9780060597672
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Reviewed by Marcia A. Lusted, Statusing

For most people today, the architectural wonders of ancient Egypt are something they have seen and heard about in one way or another since childhood. It's easy to believe that these wonders have been known and admired ever since their creation. The truth is that up until 1798, when Napoleon led a group of soldiers and explorers to Egypt, most Europeans had very little idea about this ancient culture.

In Mirage, Nina Burleigh recounts Napoleon's journey to Egypt with both the French Army, with an eye toward gaining military domination there, and also a small group of scientists and explorers whose purpose it was to document both the natural and historical aspects of Egypt. Despite the hardships of Egypt's harsh climate, an initial lack of basic supplies and lodgings, and the loss of most of their equipment when their ships sank in Alexandria harbor, these scientists (including botanists, chemists, astronomers, musicologists, naturalists, and artists) managed to gather a tremendous amount of information, samples, drawings, and artifacts, including the famous Rosetta Stone, which would unlock the secret to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Napoleon's expedition, however, was also filled with failed attempts to conquer the indigenous people of Egypt and defeat the controlling Mameluke dynasty. The plague killed many of the original members of the expedition, and others languished in prison or were killed in uprisings of the local inhabitants. Those who did survive the three years in Egypt returned home to France only after the British had appropriated much of their research and artifacts. They were, however, responsible for the intense interest in all things Egyptian that swept through Europe after their return. They published a book, The Description of Egypt, which would be a lasting record of Egypt at a time before it was stripped of so much of its artifacts by eager collectors and museums, and a tribute to the amazingly detailed information these early archaeologists gathered despite the often harrowing circumstances.

While not always an easy read, Mirage is a fascinating look at Egypt's rediscovery by modern society and what it was like to encounter this mysterious civilization after it had been forgotten for centuries. It is also an eye-opening look at an episode in French history of which many readers are not even aware. It is both poignant, given that the French expedition opened the way to widespread pillaging and theft of these ancient artifacts, and an armchair adventurer's dream, imagining what it would be like to be the first European to see the half-buried Sphinx, rising from the desert sands.