Who knew? Napoleon's engineers and artists studied ruins of ancient Egypt --- discovered the Rosetta Stone -- and introduced Europe to the mysteries of this ancient world. This was an exhibit at the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City.
Illustration: The Zodiac of Dendera is a large carved stone slab showing the constellations of the zodiac. It was discovered in a small chapel at Dendera by Vivant Denon in 1799. Denon made a drawing, and subsequently another was made by Prosper Jollois and Edouard Devilliers. In 1822, the zodiac was wrested from its chapel ceiling and taken to Paris, where it became an object of intense interest to astronomers, who hoped to use the star positions to date the artifact.
1 comment:
I knew. About Napoleon and the French in Egypt, the Rosetta etc.
I may have seen references to it, but I had not focused on this Zodiac in particular. Nice to absorb it now.
cheers, R A Y
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