Southern Frontier: Greece and the Levant — The Archaeological Appropriation of the Historical Frontier

Abstract

The rough seas and imminent danger that made Clarke’s stomach curdle seems appropriate to the broader context of political turmoil in the southern Mediterranean that made for uneasy sailing. In 1793 the French National Convention (the new elective Assembly established by revolutionary leaders in 1792) declared war against Britain and General Napoleon Bonaparte’s military status rose dramatically throughout the decade. But acute political manoeuvring by William Pitt’s administration helped Britain to maintain maritime and commercial power, and an assertive position in regions being rapidly expropriated by Napoleon’s army. In May 1798 Napoleon led approximately 38,000 French officers and soldiers, 16,000 sailors and some 180 assorted natural philosophers and artists on an ‘Egyptian Expedition’ with an aim to conquer the Orient, constrict Britain’s trade routes and threaten its possession of India.1 However, the British presence in the Mediterranean was not paltry, and Napoleon’s entourage narrowly escaped British fleets before setting foot in Alexandria. News of Napoleon’s invasion spread rapidly, and one alarmed British traveller residing in Constantinople, John Tweddell, wrote home wondering ‘Where is Lord Nelson?’2 In fact, as he wrote — in July 1798 — Admiral Nelson’s flotilla loomed on the horizon and encamped in Cairo was General Hutchinson’s squadron. Less than a month after Tweddell’s query, Nelson attacked Napoleon’s fleet in the battle of the Nile, forcing Napoleon’s retreat and isolating his army in Egypt.3