Our fascination with ancient Egypt actually extends back to the dynastic periods itself. Royal family members and key princes during some New Kingdom eras were very interested in the mysterious and storied history of their home land and worked to preserve monuments, stories, temples, etc. When the Arabs finally ended the Egyptian culture, for all intents and purposes, the interest in the history of the nation did not die with the end of dynastic Egypt. The Arabs themselves were highly fascinated with the enduring and rather strange culture they bore witness to.
What most of us would consider to be the academic study of ancient Egypt, Egyptology, is thought to have begun during the invasion of Napoleon and the French. We know that Napoleon had a keen interest in ancient Egypt and after his successful invasion, he wished to learn as much about this mystical land as he could. He sent out a bevy of scholars and researchers to document everything they could about the monuments, culture, and administration of this land.
With each passing year, we learned more and more about these people and also the importance of preserving their history for posterity. History is not only a rich, highly entertaining story, but it is a valuable lesson about where we came from and how we got to be what we are today. Hundreds of years have passed since the first westerners entered Egypt with the intent to uncover the secrets of this mysterious land. And while she has yielded some of her secrets, there is still a great deal to be discovered about Egypt, and also much that is probably permanently lost to the proverbial sands of time.