Louis Charles François Petit-Radel (1756–1836)
Fastes / Fasti
Paris: P. Didot, 1804
8700.a.2, p. 53

The portrayal of Napoleon in the pose of a Roman emperor was commonplace in France following his coronation in 1804; his victories in Italy were regarded by some as having avenged the conquest of Gaul by the Romans. This volume reproduces Latin inscriptions created to decorate the banqueting hall in the Hôtel de Ville in Paris for the coronation festivities. Modelled on the triumphal inscriptions of antiquity, the fasti formed a record of Napoleon’s achievements to date. Number XVIII celebrated his victory over Ottoman and Mamluk forces at the Battle of the Pyramids in 1798.