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When Napoleon embarked upon an army expedition into Egypt in 1798, he introduced with him a crew of students, scientists and artists. In combination, they produced the enormous “Description de l’Égypte,” a large, multivolume paintings about Egyptian geography, historical past and tradition.
The frontispiece of the second one version of ‘Description de l’Égypte.’
Wikimedia Commons
On the time, america used to be a tender country with giant aspirations, and American citizens frequently considered their nation as an inheritor to the good civilizations of the previous. The stories of historical Egypt that emerged from Napoleon’s travels changed into a supply of fascination to American citizens, regardless that in several techniques.
Within the slaveholding South, historical Egypt and its pharaohs changed into a method to justify slavery. For abolitionists and African American citizens, biblical Egypt served as a logo of bondage and liberation.
As a historian, I learn about how Nineteenth-century American citizens – from Southern intellectuals to Black abolitionists – used historical Egypt to discuss questions of race, civilization and nationwide id. My analysis strains how a distorted symbol of historical Egypt formed competing visions of freedom and hierarchy in a deeply divided country.
Egypt conjures up the pro-slavery South
In 1819, when legal professional John Overton, army officer James Winchester and long…
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Author : bq3anews
Publish date : 2025-10-20 15:55:00
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