As represented in a recent lineup of museum exhibitions and new installations featuring Egypt and the Near East (e.g. Egypt Reborn (at the Brooklyn Museum), Ancient Egypt Transformed; Egypt: Faith After the Pharaohs), not to mention this year’s Hollywood blockbuster Gods of Egypt, the land of Pharaohs and pyramids continues to captivate our imaginations. It should come as no surprise, then, that French explorer Frédéric Cailliaud, who first traveled to Egypt in 1815 on a mission to rediscover emerald mines, became enamored with the country and its treasures (Bednarski and Harer 2013).