The Pyramids Weren’t in as Much Danger as Napoleon Implies
In a scene that strikes horror in the hearts of historians, Scott shows the French forces firing a cannon at the top of the Great Pyramids, hitting one of them. Fortunately, according to historian Dan Snow, this didn’t, and couldn’t have happened. Given the firepower at the time, top of the 455-foot-tall structure with a cannonball would not have been possible from where the troops were standing.
In fact, the Battle of the Pyramids didn’t even happen at the Pyramids – it happened about nine miles away in Embabeh. The Pyramids were visible but not close enough for danger. Nor did Napoleon’s forces break the nose off the Sphinx a common myth. The Sphinx damage had already been well documented before Napoleon’s arrival. Napoleon wanted to study ancient Egyptian art and artifacts, not willfully destroy them.
