Citoyen Port Dressed Up In 18th Century Fashion As He Surveyed The Medinet Temple In Egypt
In his trip to Egypt, one of Malta’s dandies and historical fashion designer, Citoyen Port, recreated the French expedition that took place in 1799, as he dresses up in contemporary clothing while surveying the Medinet Temple in Egypt.
“Fulfilling my little nod towards history and the birth of Egyptology as a modern scientific discipline,” said Cityoen Port in his latest posts from Egypt.
The roots of Egyptology are found within the civilian team of academics and scholars, known by posterity as the ‘Savants’ (The Learned Ones) which accompanied the French ‘L’Armee D’Orient’ into Egypt, led by General Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798. Their task was to study a country through a variety of professions: Engineering, Cartography, Geology, Physics, Natural History, Economics and Politics.
Several scholars, however, fell in love with the country and documented and sketched several temples and sites. Also collecting smaller artefacts along the way. Such artists had to melt down lead musket balls and remold them into pencils due to sketching so much.
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The most prominent chronicler and illustrator within this team was Vivant Denon, who’d later become the first director of the Louvre Museum. His several illustrations and memoirs give us an archaeological buffet of details. Complimenting their birth of Egyptology, the French expedition had also uncovered the Rosetta stone which was vital in deciphering hieroglyphs.
The French were eventually defeated by the British and Ottoman Empire in 1801 and one of the terms of surrender the British had imposed was that all findings and artefacts discovered by the French scholars be handed over. In response to this demand, the French scholars wrote to the British threatening to destroy all their findings rather than handing them over. The British conceded with the exception of the Rosetta Stone, which is nowadays found in the British Museum.
Citoyen Port appreciated this military and academic expedition in Egypt by the French which gave birth to the study of a country which a country which captivates our imaginations across the world.
Are you a fan of ancient Egypt?
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