Raphaël de Monachis

Anton Zakhūr Rafa'il (Arabic: أنطون زخور رافائيل[1]) known in France as Raphaël de Monachis (1759 - 1831) was an Egyptian-born monk of Syrian ancestry, known for his orientalist studies and for being one of Jean-François Champollion's language teachers.

He studied at the Greek seminary in Rome and took his vows at the Basilian Monastery of the Saviour in Sidon where he remained from 1789 to 1794 when he returned to Egypt.

He was appointed as adjunct professor of Arabic language at the École des Langues Orientales.

In 1804 he participated in the Coronation of Napoleon I and was depicted in Jacques-Louis David's famous painting.

[2] In 1816 after the fall of Napoleon at Waterloo, he returned to Egypt where he entered the service of Muhammad 'Ali Pasha.