In April 1820, a French engineer blasted the roof from an
ancient temple at Dendera in Egypt and sailed it back to Paris.
The blocks carried a bas-relief of a mysterious zodiac which
ignited intense controversy in France, where scholars were keen
to show the superiority of mathematical analysis over religious
teaching. They claimed its constellations depicted the sky at
the time it was carved and (wrongly) claimed it as proof the
Egyptians had sophisticated astronomical knowledge as far back
as 15,000 BC, in opposition to the Church's doctrine that the
Earth was only 6000 years old. The authors chronicle these
debates against the backdrop of the French revolution and its
Enlightenment ideals. The result is an impressive piece of
scholarship, but the dense biographical details and lack of
clear narrative make it a tough read. The Zodiac of Paris by Jed
Z. Buchwald and Diane Greco Josefowicz Princeton University
Press