Why Is It Important To Civilize Ancient Egypt

Today, in Egypt, we are left with the ruins of art and architecture. The pyramids, sphinxes, and tombs were torn apart by the later Egyptian Dynasties and destroyed by looters. Some of the loss of artifacts this have to do with time, earthquakes, and past looters, but the biggest culprits, that many do not think of first, are the early Egyptologists. It was all about getting the biggest and most impressive objects and not really about the importance of the object in context to the area. Because of this many of the objects during the early excavations were not properly organized, or sold to the highest bidder, or broken up to be sent to many different museums, and some lesser objects degraded due to neglect. Early Egyptologists robbed the masses of today’s key knowledge to understanding Egypt. With each day we try to build up our knowledge of ancient Egypt with our new technology, better archiving and preservation practices, and the addition of Egyptian Egyptologists. …show more content…
Napoleon wanted to civilize Egypt like his idol, Alexander the Great, did before him. “This country [Egypt], which has transmitted its knowledge to so many nations, is today plunged into barbarism.’ Hence the need for the French conquest, which would restore the benefits of civilization” (Reid, Donald M. 34). He not only brought soldiers but also scientists and scholars to learn about the Egyptian history. All of this in hopes to make another Alexandria. It ended up being a huge failure and the best things that came out of the expedition were the Rosetta Stone and the Description de l’Egypte. This book led to the public interest to all things Egyptian and many so-called “Egyptologists”. This is where tomb-robbing Egyptologists really starts