10 Things You Didn't Know About Napoleon

Napoleon’s loss at the Nile has slowly been pushed to the back of our minds and out of historical textbooks due to his much more significant losses in Trafalgar and Waterloo. In fact, most of Napoleon’s Egyptian involvement is left out when he is analysed by the British.

Napoleon had a keen interest in Ancient Egypt, particularly Ancient Egyptian artifacts which is partly what led him to embark on a journey to Egypt. Going against the advice of his generals, Napoleon took several scientists and historians to Egypt with him instead of giving the transportation room to additional soldiers. During Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition, the French discovered the Rosetta Stone, the artifact which would later become the first hieroglyphic inscribed item to be translated.

Napoleon cared greatly about Egypt, to the point where he had a hospital built there. This care backfired though when a joined British and Turkish force attacked and exiled the French from the country entirely in 1801. Following this defeat, the British seized the Rosetta Stone and moved it to the British Museum (to join everything else the British army had ‘acquired’ throughout the colonial period). Napoleon’s dedication to ancient culture cost him immensely, as he essentially handed the British (at the time) the biggest archaeological find relating to Ancient Egypt.