The Savants of Napoleon's Egyptian Expedition

Napoleon's Intellectuals and the Institute of Egypt

Sep 15, 2008

When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, his army was accompanied by 167 intellectuals and scholars known as savants. Savant is a French term and means 'knowing.'

These men were the intellectual essence of post-revolutionary France. The ranks of the savants were comprised of artists, architects, composers, astronomers, botanists, engineers, chemists, cartographers and zoologists, to name a few.

The presence of these men reflected Napoleons ultimate aim in invading Egypt: to eventually gain control of the entire middle-east and march on India. In this empire, the savants would play a key role in enlightening the masses, assisting with administration and unlocking the knowledge and history of Egypt and the Orient. Napoleons dreams of an oriental empire were to be thwarted, but the knowledge acquired by these intrepid men of learning was to form the basis of Egyptology and pave the way for the great archaeological discoveries of later ages.

The Savants

The man placed in charge of the recruitment of the savants was the great mathematician Louis Caffarelli, aged 42. Cafarelli was renowned not only for his skill with numbers but with engineering matters, too. He had lost one of his legs and wore a wooden peg as a replacement.

The savants equipment was multitudinous, ranging from maps of Egypt, India and south-central Asia, astronomical telescopes, printing presses with Arabic type, hot air balloons and a library of hundreds of books, including the works of Voltaire.

The savants were not appreciated by the soldiers of Napoleon’s army. Many soldiers believed that they were conquering Egypt just so the savants could draw their sketches and collect their specimens. The savants were contemptuously referred to as ‘donkeys’. When Napoleon made his initial landing at Alexandria, the savants were the last to be disembarked, and were forced to fend for themselves and their equipment until temporarily given the rank of soldiers, which enabled them to draw rations.

Nevertheless, the savants acquitted themselves admirably, enduring heat, thirst, disease, poor rations, vermin, long marches and the dangers of battle, all the while sketching, documenting and recording the land and culture through which they travelled.

The Institute of Egypt

When Napoleon occupied Cairo, the savants were given the use of two deserted mameluke palaces, where they founded an institute dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge in Egypt. The Institute of Egypt was modelled on the National Institute in Paris.

Their aim was to attempt the enlightenment of a people they considered repressed and dulled by feudal governance and religious dogma.

They created a library, which proved popular with some soldiers, as well as workshops and a foundry. The gardens were used for botanical studies. The Institute produced it’s own journal and numerous papers. From here, the savants mapped Cairo and parts of Egypt and mounted expeditions to view and sketch the numerous ruins and temples along the Nile. Others collected, studied and preserved plants, insects, reptiles and birds. Some worked on mathematical problems and embarked on such esoteric projects as analyzing the composition of desert sand.

On a more practical level, Napoleon, (himself a master mathematician), ordered the savants to conduct research into the manufacture of gunpowder in Egypt, as well as better irrigation, urban planning and public health infrastructures.

Savants at Rosetta discovered the Rosetta stone, which contained three layers of inscribed trilingual script which contained the key to the deciphering of hieroglyphics.

The Description de l'Egypte

The savants aim of enlightening the Egyptian masses was in keeping with the ideals of the French revolution. However, mameluke Egypt was not ready for such a radical change in thinking.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of the savants was the publication, from 1809 until 1828, of the Description de l’Egypte, a massive encyclopaedia that incorporated the work of thousands of artists and scholars. Its final 23 volumes - 10 of text, 13 of plates - featured 837 copper plate engravings and 3000 drawings and was the distilled essence of all the knowledge acquired by the savants in Egypt.

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