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Napoleon's military defeat in Egypt yielded a victory for history
When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, he brought along an 'army' of scholars, whose studies of this ancient culture became the foundation of Egyptology.
Jean-Léon Gérôme’s painting “Bonaparte Before the Sphinx” captures Napoleon’s instinct that the glory of ancient Egypt could be harnessed to exalt French power. Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California.
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