In Search of Bonaparte: "Napoleon’s Hill" and the 1799 Siege of Acre/Akko, Israel

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Napoleon’s famous 1799 defeat at the walls of Ottoman Acre marked a turning point in the French campaign to control the Middle East, an event that lives on in the memory of the citizens of modern Akko. Visitors to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Acre, Israel can follow a walking route exploring several locations relevant to Bonaparte’s 1799 siege of the city. In this paper, we recreate Napoleon’s unsuccessful siege of Acre to examine the role of Tel Akko (“Napoleon’s Hill”) in his defeat. Based on contemporary maps and primary written accounts of the siege, we present an investigation and contextualization of Bonaparte’s rout by British and Ottoman forces and examine the claim that Napoleon never set foot on Tel Akko. The maps and eye-witness testimonies show conclusively that not only was Napoleon on Tel Akko, but he also directed the course of the battle from this ancient mound.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2023 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow