Dreams of the Orient

The Directory, pleased by success but wary of Napoleon's ambitions, approved his proposal for an Egyptian expedition. The stated goal was to threaten British interests in India, but Napoleon's motivations were more complex. He saw himself following Alexander the Great, combining conquest with cultural exploration. "Europe is a molehill," he declared. "All the great reputations have come from Asia."

The expedition's scale was unprecedented. Beyond 38,000 soldiers, Napoleon brought 167 scholars—the "savants"—including mathematicians, engineers, artists, and linguists. This Commission of Science and Arts would produce the Description de l'Égypte, a monumental study that founded modern Egyptology. Napoleon envisioned not mere conquest but a fusion of European rationalism with oriental wisdom.