Sunday, December 21, 2008

Exhibition: Historic documents reveal ancient world

nj.com (Nicole Gough)

"Egypt Unveiled" is an exhibition featuring books, artwork, maps, and resources from one of the earliest European expeditions to Egypt.

"Napoleon landed in Egypt with over 50,000 troops and they were going to take over and make Egypt a part of the French empire," said Jennifer Meyer, exhibition curator.

"But that part did not go well because there was the plague, and brutal battles they lost, so they ended up withdrawing. In the meantime, all of these other things were happening, and that's the focus of the exhibition."

Napoleon's military goals may not have been accomplished, but the scholars and savants he brought along made the trip a success. . . .

There is something for everyone in the "Egypt Unveiled" exhibition, from early drawings of crocodiles to detailed sketches of the asp, from colorful drawings of the sacred Ibis to eerily detailed pictures of mummies. There is even a picture of the Rosetta Stone, which the savants discovered while exploring Egypt.


The exhibition will be on display until May 10th 2009 in the Firestone Library at Princeton University.

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