Napoleon’s route across Lower Egypt on 30 December 1798, is shown intersecting the vestiges of the ancient Suez canal. The route of the canal is shown from the tip of the Red Sea, going north, then west, and eventually to the Nile. From the Description de l'Égypte État Moderne.

Napoleon hoped to build a canal from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, following the path of such a canal that had been built in antiquity. First, the French engineers had to find the ancient canal, the vestiges of which would have been recognizable to civil engineers who knew what to look for. Napoleon spotted the first evidence of the ancient canal banks, which were then mapped by the chief civil engineer, Jacques-Marie Le Pére.