Provider: Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic TY - JOUR JO - Anthropologie (Brno) TI - THE FATAL ERROR OF CHAMPOLLION: "FOR ME, THE WAY TO MEMPHIS AND THEBES LEADS THROUGH TURIN" AU - GREGOROVIČOVÁ AU - E Y1 - 2018 VL - 56 IS - 3 PB - Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic SN - 0323-1119 SP - 195 EP - 210 KW - Egypt – Nubia – Egyptology – Champollion Jean-François – Rosellini Ippolito – Raddi Giuseppe – Family archive of the Tuscan Habsburgs – France – Tuscany – Leopold II Grand Duke of Tuscany N2 - N2 - This study does not fully fit into the usual topics of the journal of Anthropology, the National Archives in Prague would nevertheless like to pay tribute to the lifetime work of our world-renowned archaeologist and anthropologist, professor Strouhal, by analysing as yet unknown documents depicting the first expeditions to Egypt, thus fittingly contributing to interdisciplinary research in Egyptology. The present article analyses unknown and scientifically unexplored autographic letters from the founders of Egyptology – Jean-François Champollion (France) and Ippolito Rosellini (Tuscany) – addressed in the years 1826–1831 to the Tuscan ruler Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who co-financed the Franco-Tuscan scientific and literary expedition into Egypt in the years 1828–1829. The correspondence is stored in the Family archive of the Tuscan Habsburgs in the National Archives in Prague. In total, 8 autographic letters from Champollion (1826–1831), 7 drafted replies of the Tuscan Grand Duke to Jean-François Champollion, 12 original reports by Rosellini from the years 1827–1831 and 5 papers (1828–1829) from the famous Tuscan natural scientist and expedition member, Giuseppe Raddi, are stored in the archive. Combined information from all the investigated letters from the three scientists and the personal diary records of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, allows us to create a very detailed mosaic of the exploratory enterprise – from Champollion's visit to Italy, to the first idea of the joint expedition, Rosellini's research fellowship in Paris connected to the frenzied preparation of the expedition, through the course of the expedition itself until the publication of "Monument". The documents can be evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively as a revealing contribution to the history of Egyptology. ER -