Morea Expedition - Scientific Expedition

Scientific Expedition

The Morea expedition was the second of the great military-scientific expeditions led by France in the first half of the 19th century. The first, used as a benchmark, had been the Egyptian one, starting in 1798; the last took place in Algeria from 1839. All took place at the initiative of the French government and were placed under the guidance of a particular ministry (Foreign relations for Egypt, Interior for Morea and War for Algeria). The great scientific institutions recruited learned men (both civilians and from the military) and specified their missions, but in situ work took place in close co-operation with the army.

The Commission of Sciences and Arts from Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition, and especially the publications that followed, had become a model. As Greece was the other important “ancient” region considered as lying at the origin of Western civilisation (one of the philhellenists’ principal arguments), it was decided to “take advantage of the presence of our soldiers who were occupying Morea to send a learned commission. It did not have to equal that attached to the glory of Napoleon It did however need to render eminent services to the arts and sciences.”

In Egypt and Algeria, scientific work took place under the army’s protection. In Morea, most troops were departing when exploration had barely begun. The army was content to provide logistical support: “tents, stakes, tools, liquid containers, large pots and sacks; in a word, everything that could be found for us to use in the army’s storehouses.”

The members of the scientific expedition landed at Navarino on March 3, 1829, after 21 days at sea.