At this point in our study it is useful to break with the broad, historical narrative and focus on a single European country in order to examine in more depth interest in ancient Egypt. As briefly stated, European interest in Egypt extended beyond the realm of the scholar in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. British academic and popular interest during this period is easy to find. A mixture of nationalism, political satire, and ancient Egyptian motifs are evident, for example, in the caricatures of John Gillray, which lampooned French colonial and scholarly interest in Egypt. The first such image to be discussed was based upon personal letters from disgruntled French officers in Napoleon’s Egyptian army. The letters were intercepted by the British Navy and published in London, presumably in an attempt to boost the war effort. For the ‘‘Siege of the Column of Pompey’’ (figure 47.1), dated 6 March 1799, Gillray assured the British public that his image had been etched from the original, intercepted drawing. In it, he depicts the French scholars who accompanied Napoleon and who later produced the Description de I’Egypte. Gillray shows them in Alexandria attempting to measure the Column of Pompey while weak from dehydration and hunger, and in a difficult situation with the native Egyptians. The idea of placing the savants on the column in fact stemmed from a supposed incident that took place in 1781, in which eight drunken British naval officers held a party atop it. The leader of the group in the caricature holds a proclamation that reads ‘‘Long Live Mohammed, who protects the Sciences,’’ while one of his colleagues has plans for burning Mecca in his pocket. Other plans, works and tools fall from the column, such as a project for ‘‘fraternizing with the Bedouins,’’ which regrettably lands on the head of the Bedouin in the bottom left of the scene. To this unfortunate person’s right is another Bedouin who shoots down the ‘‘Abyssinian coach,’’ while the passengers drop pamphlets entitled ‘‘Aerial Navigation’’ and the ‘‘The Velocity of Falling Bodies.’’ The Frenchman who is losing his grip has a ‘‘Plan for Making Man Immortal’’ (Hill 1976: 118).
A second image by Gillray, entitled simply ‘‘Egyptian Sketches’’ (figure 47.2), and dated 12 March 1799, depicts a field of pyramids on a vast, cloud-filled desert horizon. Two sphinxes with predatory claws wear hats with tricolor cockades. Behind them, an ape dressed as a ragged French officer climbs a pyramid in order to install a bonnet-rouge, typically carried on the masts of French men-of-war. The sash of the ape contains a blood-stained dagger. Clutching at his coat-tail is a nude man, who symbolizes Folly. He wears a fool’s cap and wields a second cap atop an ass’s head with bells (George 1942: 538).
The final Gillray image to be discussed is also dated 12 March 1799 and is entitled ‘‘The Insurrection of the Amphibious Institute - The Pursuit of Knoweldge’’ (figure 47.3). This scene depicts two Frenchmen, clearly two of Napoleon’s savants, attempting to domesticate crocodiles, only to have the animals attack them. One man holds a halter and whip, with a saddle and a large book entitled ‘‘On the Education of the Crocodile’’ on the ground near him. Three plates beside this book depict a Frenchman riding a crocodile, a Frenchman’s chariot being pulled by crocodiles, and a small boat
Figure 47.1 John Gillray’s ‘‘Siege of the Column of Pompey’’ Reproduced from a copy kept by Professor J. Secord, the University of Cambridge.
Being towed by a crocodile. The man, having attempted to ride the crocodile, has his leg seized by the creature. The second figure, behind the first, is also seized by a crocodile and drops a book entitled ‘‘The Rights of the Crocodile’’ (George 1942: 538-39). These satires demonstrate more than British humor at the expense of French efforts: they present a visual blend of contemporary politics with imagery of ancient Egypt. It seems reasonable to assume that this imagery, of Egyptian antiquities, fauna, and peoples, was understood by, at the very least, upper class segments of British society.
Other tangible forms of British academic and popular knowledge of Egypt in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, indicative of a broader portion of the British public, were newspapers and magazines. Like today, periodicals in Great Britain from this period catered to all types of readers. Also, like today, nineteenth-century periodicals demonstrate wide-ranging interest in ancient Egypt from both editors and consumers. As a source of evidence for gauging public interest in a subject, periodical literature must be taken seriously. As the century progressed it was in this forum, after all, that new discoveries were announced, and historical ideas accepted, rejected and ridiculed. By the 1830s, the number of periodicals in Great Britain had tripled, from approximately 475 titles in 1801, to an estimated 1,000 titles by 1831 (Dawson et al. 2004: 7-9). Taking 13 such titles, and focusing on the first three decades of the nineteenth century, we can clearly see strong public interest in the topic
Figure 47.2 John Gillray’s ‘‘Egyptian Sketches’’ Reproduced from a copy kept by Professor J. Secord, the University of Cambridge.
Of Egypt. The 13 journals selected for this examination are recognized by historians of periodical literature to be the most significant publications of their kind during the early 1800s (Bednarski 2005: 3). In addition, these 13 periodicals were targeted at different sorts of British readers. Some were wealthy, well-educated and read broadly. Others had modest funds that might be spent on reading material, and modest educations, but were still interested in a variety of topics. Still others had very specific interests. In total, the selected 13 periodicals can be divided into three categories: leading quarterlies, general interest, and specialist periodicals. When examined together, these publications represent the interests and opinions of a broad spectrum of British readers and editors.
One method of exploring these periodicals is by reading through the indices and tables of contents for each volume and focusing on words that are central to the study of Egypt during the early nineteenth century. These indices are far from cursory, and include all substantive references within the journal in question. The key words upon which I focused my study include: Belzoni, Champollion, Demotic, Denon, Description de I’Egypte, Egypt, Enchorial, Hieroglyphs, Jomard, Rosetta, and Young. Figure 47.4 lists the number of volumes, or in the case of the Literary Gazette the number of years, examined for each journal. The table also lists the number of volumes, or with the Literary Gazette the number of years, of a periodical that contain the key terms between 1800 and 1830.
This rapid quantification of data reveals several important facts. To begin with, the fact that Egypt is mentioned in all 13 periodicals, each with different goals, political biases and formats, suggests that it was generally a popular theme amongst British
Figure 47.3 John Gillray’s ‘‘The Insurrection of the Amphibious Institute - the Pursuit of Knowledge.’’ Reproduced from a copy kept by Professor J. Secord, the University of Cambridge.
Readers. How popular that theme was to different journals and readers, however, could vary greatly. But how did British interest in ancient Egypt compare with interest in other areas of historical enquiry? A comparison between mention of Egypt and mention of aspects of ancient Greek and Roman civilization might help to contextualize the periodical references indicated in figure 47.4. To address this question I have taken two of the journals listed in figure 47.4 and searched within them for terms relevant to the study of ancient Greece and Rome: Aeneid, ancient authors, Athenian, Athens, classic/Classical, Greece, Grecian, Greek, Iliad, Latin, Parthenon, Roman, Rome, Sparta and Spartan. What this search reveals is that these Classical terms can be found in 30 out of the 52 volumes examined of the prestigious Edinburgh Review. In other words, the terms relating to aspects of ancient Greece and Rome occur in 58 per cent of the studied volumes. Similarly, a search for the same terms in the Edinburghs literary rival, the Quarterly Review, reveals their occurrence in 32 of the 43 volumes examined (i. e. 74 per cent). These figures, as visually compared with those relating to references to Egypt, are shown in figure 47.5.
With this comparative data, it might be fair to say that readers and editors of both the Quarterly and Edinburgh were similarly interested in the subject of ancient Greece and Rome. On the subject of Egypt, however, the findings within these two journals suggest interesting possibilities. In the Edinburgh the occurrence ofEgyptian topics is well below that of Classical topics. Yet in the Quarterly such occurrences appear to surpass those of Classical topics. With only two periodical sources of
¦ Total number of volumes or years examined ? Number of volumes or years containing key-terms
Edinburgh Review Quarterly Review Westminster Review Foreign Quarterly New Monthly Magazine Gentleman’s Magazine Mirror Literary Gazette Athenaeum Monthly Review London Magazine Archaeologia Museum Criticum
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Figure 47.4 The popularity of Ancient Egypt as a topic in 13 British periodicals between 1800 and 1830.
Comparison, we cannot draw definite conclusions. It might be that the Quarterlys mention of Egypt is comparable to other contemporaneous journals, meaning the topic of ancient Egypt was just as, or more, popular than Classical topics for British readers. On the other hand, the possibility exists that the Quarterly’s use of ancient Egypt was an anomaly not shared by other periodicals. Whatever the case may be, this definite interest in ancient Egypt, as reflected in the periodicals, is expected because of the long tradition of writing about the country, because of Britain's involvement in the Napoleonic invasion, and because the military conflict resulted in new access for European enquiry.
As mentioned above, archaeological activity in Egypt went hand-in-hand with collecting. The British Museum was founded in 1753 and opened its doors six years later. Amongst the initial material on display were Egyptian objects, some bequeathed to the museum upon the death of Sir Hans Sloane, and others from donations. Egyptian material continued to find its way into the museum throughout the century. The objects gained after the defeat of the French in Egypt greatly augmented both the size and prestige of the collection. This world-class exhibit continued to grow as the century progressed and British Egyptology developed. The excavation work of the British Consul Henry Salt and his sometimes-agent
? ER - vols. examined H ER - vols. refering to Egypt B ER - vols. refering to classical topics H QR - vols. examined 0 QR - vols. referring to Egypt ¦ QR - vols. referring to classical topics
Figure 47.5 The relative popularity of Ancient Egyptian and Classical topics in the Quarterly Review and Edinburgh Review.
Giovanni Belzoni both contributed to the British Museum’s Egyptian collection and attracted popular attention. It was in this dynamic environment of popular and scholarly interest that Britain developed its own nascent form of Egyptology by the 1830s. By this decade, after spending 12 years in Egypt undertaking research, John Gardner Wilkinson returned to England and published his groundbreaking Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. As the century progressed, important figures to British Egyptology, such as Samuel Birch and Ernest Wallis Budge, took prominent positions in the British Museum. Similarly, as the century progressed, the scale and scope of British archaeological activity in Egypt grew while the quality of the work undertaken improved. By the end of the century, Flinders Petrie, partly through his work with the publicly funded Egypt Exploration Fund, had established new standards for excavating in Egypt and influenced a generation of scholars and excavators.
World History
