In the Spring of 1798, Napoleon set out with 38,000 men and 10,000 sailors to conquer Egypt. 

He also brought along 167 men of science and the arts to start a scientific mission 

to explore the land. 

It was the beginning of a scholarly encounter between the West and the Muslim world.

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Rosetta Stone

Napoleon's 1798 campaign in Egypt came at (and helped cause) the beginning of a burst 

of Egyptomania in Europe, and especially France. 

A corps of 167 technical experts (savants), known as the Commission des Sciences et des Arts, 

accompanied the French expeditionary army to Egypt.