Saulnier, Égypte

This book lay at the center of a story combining ancient astronomy, intrigue, thievery, French nationalism, Egyptian archaeology, politics, and science and religion. In 1820, Saulnier commissioned a master stonemason to travel to the ancient Egyptian Temple of Dendera where a famous ceiling depicted the zodiac.  The mason removed the ceiling under the nose of Egyptian officials and smuggled it back to France.  The snatching of the zodiac ceiling, or Dendera Affair, was Europeʼs most sensational archaeological event for that generation.