The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership m ...

devoted to

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute ...

. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions ( epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres).

History

Institut de France - Académie française et pont des Arts

The Académie originated in 1663 as a council of four

humanists Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

, "scholars who were the most versed in the knowledge of history and antiquity":

Jean Chapelain Jean Chapelain (4 December 1595 – 22 February 1674) was a French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle, best known for his role as an organizer and founding member of the Académie française. Chapelain acquired considerable prestige as a l ...

François Charpentier François Charpentier (15 February 1620 – 22 April 1702) was a French archaeologist and man of letters. Biography Charpentier was born in Paris, and intended for the bar, but was employed by Colbert, who had determined on the foundation of a Fr ...

Jacques Cassagne Jacques Cassagne or Jacques de Cassaigne (1 January 1636, Nîmes – 19 May 1679, Paris) was a French clergyman, poet, and moralist. Biography A doctor of theology, he was 'garde' of the king's library and entered the Académie française aged 2 ...

, Amable de Bourzeys, and Charles Perrault. In another source, Perrault is not mentioned, and other original members are named as François Charpentier and a M. Douvrier. Etienne Fourmont, 1683–1745: Oriental and Chinese languages in eighteenth ... By Cécile Leung, page 51 The organizer was King Louis XIV's finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Its first name was the ''Académie royale des Inscriptions et Médailles'', and its mission was to compose or obtain

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

inscriptions to be written on public monuments and medals issued to celebrate the events of Louis' reign. However, under Colbert's management, the Académie performed many additional roles, such as determining the art that would decorate the Palace of Versailles. In 1683 Minister Louvois increased the membership to eight. In 1701 its membership was expanded to 40 and reorganized under the leadership of Chancellor Pontchartrain. It met twice a week at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, its members began to receive significant pensions, and was made an official state institution on the king's decree. In January 1716 it was permanently renamed to the ''Académie royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres'' with the broader goal of elevating the prestige of the French monarchy using physical symbols uncovered or recovered through the methods of classical erudition. The Académie produced a catalogue of medals created in honor of Louis XIV, ''Médailles sur les événements du règne de Louis le Grand, avec des explications historiques'', first published in 1702. A second edition was published in 1723, eight years after Louis' death. Each page of the catalogue featured engraved images of the obverse and reverse of a single medal, followed by a lengthy description of the event upon which it was based. The second edition added some medals for events prior to 1700 which were not included in the first volume, and in some cases the images of medals in the earlier edition were altered, resulting in an improved version. The catalogues may therefore be seen as an artistic effort to enhance the king's image, rather than as an accurate historical record.

Role

In the words of the Académie's charter, it is:

primarily concerned with the study of the monuments, the documents, the languages, and the cultures of the civilizations of antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the classical period, as well as those of non-European civilizations.

Today the academy is composed of fifty-five French members, forty associate foreign members, fifty French corresponding members, and fifty foreign corresponding members. The seats are distributed evenly among "orientalists" (scholars of Asia and the Islamic world, from ancient times), "antiquists" (scholars of Greece, Rome, and Gaul, including archaeologists, numismatists, philologists and historians), "medievalists", and a fourth miscellaneous group of linguists, law historians, historians of religion, historians of thought, and prehistorians. The

Volney Prize The Prix Volney ( en, Volney Medal) is awarded by the Institute of France after proposition by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres to a work of comparative philology. The prize was founded by Constantin Volney in 1803 and was original ...

is awarded by the Institut de France, based on the proposal of the ''Académie''. It publishes ''Mémoires''.

Prizes, grants and medals awarded by the ''Académie''

Prizes * Prix Ambatielos * Prix d'histoire des religions de la fondation "Les Amis de Pierre-Antoine Bernheim" *

Prix des antiquités de la France Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who als ...

* Prix Emile Benveniste * Prix Bordin * Prix du budget *

Prix Honoré Chavée Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who als ...

* Prix Croiset * Prix Duchalais * Prix Paule Dumesnil * Prix Roman et Tania Ghirshman * Prix Gobert * Prix Hirayama * Prix de la Grange * Prix Serge Lancel * Prix Raymond et Simone Lantier * Prix Marie-Françoise et Jean Leclant * Prix Gaston Maspero * Prix Jean-Charles Perrot * Prix George Perrot * Prix Jeanine et Roland Plottel * Prix Saintour * Prix Émile Sénart * Prix Léon Vandermeesch * Prix de l'Institut de France 2018 * Prix de la Fondation Colette Caillat * Grand Prix d'archéologie de la Fondation Simone et Cino del Duca * Prix Jean_Edouard Goby * Prix Hugot * Prix Stanislas Julien Grants * Subvention Louis de Clercq * Bourse Courtois * Subvention de la Fondation Dourlans * Subvention Garnier-Lestamy * Subvention Max Serres de la Fondation Eve Delacroix * Bourse Jacques Vandier Medals * Médailles des Antiquités de la France * Médaille Jean-Jacques Berger * Médaille Clermont-Ganneau * Médaille du Baron de Courcel * Médaille Delalande-Guérineau * Médaille Drouin * Médaille Alfred Dutens * Médaille Fould * Médaille Gobert * Médaille Stanislas Julien * Médaille le Fèvre-Deumier * Médaille Gustave Mendel * Médaille Gabriel-Auguste Prost

Prominent members

Eugène Albertini Eugène Albertini (2 October 1880 – 15 February 1941) was a 20th-century French teacher in Latin literature, a historian of ancient Rome, especially for North Africa and an . He was a member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres ...

* Antoine Anselme *

Jean Sylvain Bailly Jean Sylvain Bailly (; 15 September 1736 – 12 November 1793) was a French astronomer, mathematician, freemason, and political leader of the early part of the French Revolution. He presided over the Tennis Court Oath, served as the mayor of Pa ...

Anatole Jean-Baptiste Antoine de Barthélemy Anatole Jean-Baptiste Antoine de Barthélemy (1 July 182127 June 1904) was a French archaeologist and numismatist. Life He was born at Reims in 1821, and died at Ville d'Avray in 1904. In collaboration with J. Geslin de Bourgogne he published '' ...

* Charles Batteux *

Pierre Louis Jean Casimir de Blacas Pierre-Louis Jean Casimir, Count of Blacas d'Aulps (10 January 1771 – 17 November 1839), later created 1st Duke of Blacas (1821), was a French antiquarian, nobleman and diplomat during the Bourbon Restoration. Biography Early life He was ...

Michel Bréal Michel Jules Alfred Bréal (; 26 March 183225 November 1915), French philologist, was born at Landau in Rhenish Palatinate. He is often identified as a founder of modern semantics. Life and career Michel Bréal was born at Landau in Germany ...

* Antoine Leonard de Chézy * Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau * Jean-Baptiste Colbert *

Henri Cordier Henri Cordier (8 August 184916 March 1925) was a French linguist, historian, ethnographer, author, editor and Orientalist. He was President of the Société de Géographie (French, "Geographical Society") in Paris.André Dacier *

Léopold Delisle Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name) * Leopold (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold Bloom, the protagonist o ...

Jean Denis, comte Lanjuinais 200px Jean Denis, comte Lanjuinais (12 March 175313 January 1827), was a French politician, lawyer, jurist, journalist, and historian. Biography Early career Born in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine), Lanjuinais, after a brilliant college career, whic ...

Gabriel Devéria Jean-Gabriel Devéria (8 March 1844 – 12 July 1899), known as Gabriel Devéria, was a French diplomat and interpreter who worked for the French diplomatic service in China from the age of sixteen. He was also a noted sinologist and pioneer ...

* Louis Duchesne * Émile Egger *

Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès (; 24 June 176713 June 1846) was a French geographer, author and translator, best remembered in the English speaking world for his translation of German ghost stories '' Fantasmagoriana'', published anonymously in 18 ...

André Félibien André Félibien (May 161911 June 1695), ''sieur des Avaux et de Javercy'', was a French chronicler of the arts and official court historian to Louis XIV of France. Biography Félibien was born at Chartres. At the age of fourteen he went to Pa ...

* Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie *

Nicolas Fréret Nicolas Fréret (; 15 February 1688 – 8 March 1749) was a French scholar. Life He was born at Paris on 15 February 1688. His father was ''procureur'' to the ''parlement'' of Paris, and destined him to the profession of the law. His first tutor ...

* Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle *

Étienne Fourmont Étienne Fourmont (23 June 1683 – 8 December 1745) was a French scholar and Orientalist who served as professor of Arabic at the Collège de France and published grammars on the Arabic, Hebrew, and Chinese languages. Although Fourmont is r ...

* Antoine Galland * Ernst Hoepffner *

Pierre Amédée Jaubert Pierre Amédée Emilien Probe Jaubert (3 June 1779 – 28 January 1847) was a French diplomat, academic, orientalist, translator, politician, and traveler. He was Napoleon's "favourite orientalist adviser and dragoman". Biography Born in Aix ...

* Stanislas Julien *

Alexandre Maurice Blanc de Lanautte, Comte d'Hauterive Alexandre Maurice Blanc de Lanautte, Comte d'Hauterive (1754–1830), a French statesman and diplomat, was born at Aspres (Hautes-Alpes) on the 14 April 1754 and educated at Grenoble, where he became a professor. Later, he held a similar position ...

Pierre Henri Larcher Pierre Henri Larcher (12 October 1726 – 22 December 1812) was a French classical scholar and archaeologist. Life Born at Dijon, and originally intended for the law, he abandoned it for the classics. His (anonymous) translation of Chariton's ''C ...

Jean Lebeuf Jean Lebeuf (7 March 1687 – 10 April 1760) was a French historian. Biography Lebeuf was born at Auxerre, where his father, a councillor in the parlement, was ''receveur des consignations''. He began his studies in his native town, and continued ...

* Edmond Le Blant *

Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance Charles-François is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec (1719–1791), French soldier and diplomat * Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance (1739–1824), Third Consul of Fra ...

Jean Leclant Jean Leclant (8 August 1920 – 16 September 2011) was a renowned Egyptologist who was an Honorary Professor at the College of France, Permanent Secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Letters of the Institut de France, and Honorary S ...

Émile Littré Émile Maximilien Paul Littré (; 1 February 18012 June 1881) was a French lexicographer, freemason and philosopher, best known for his '' Dictionnaire de la langue française'', commonly called . Biography Littré was born in Paris. His fathe ...

Leonardo López Luján Leonardo Náuhmitl López Luján (born 31 March 1964 in Mexico City) is an archaeologist and one of the leading researchers of pre-Hispanic Central Mexican societies and the history of archaeology in Mexico. He is director of the Templo Mayor Pro ...

Jean Mabillon Dom Jean Mabillon, O.S.B., (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics. Early life Mabi ...

Louis Ferdinand Alfred Maury Louis Ferdinand Alfred Maury (March 23, 1817 – February 11, 1892), was a French scholar and physician, important because his ideas about the interpretation of dreams and the effect of external stimuli on dreams pre-dated those of Sigmund Fre ...

Joachim Menant Joachim Menant (16 April 1820 – 30 August 1899) was a French magistrate and orientalist. He was born in Cherbourg. He studied law and became vice-president of the tribunal civil of Rouen in 1878, and a member of the court of appeal three ye ...

Franz Miklosich Franz Miklosich (german: Franz Ritter von Miklosich, also known in Slovene as ; 20 November 1813 – 7 March 1891) was a Slovene philologist. Early life Miklosich was born in the small village of Radomerščak near the Lower Styrian town of Lju ...

* Agénor Azéma de Montgravier *

Jean Marie Pardessus Jean Marie Pardessus (August 11, 1772 – May 27, 1853) was a French lawyer. Life He was born at Blois, and educated by the Oratorians, then studied law, at first under his father, a lawyer at the Presidial, who was a pupil of Robert Joseph Pothi ...

* Alexis Paulin Paris *

Claude-Emmanuel de Pastoret Claude-Emmanuel Joseph Pierre, Marquess of Pastoret (24 December 1755, in Marseille – 28 September 1840, in Paris) was a French lawyer, author and politician. Biography Pastoret was elected member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Le ...

Armand-Pierre Caussin de Perceval Armand-Pierre Caussin de Perceval (1795–1871) was a French orientalist. He was born in Paris on 13 January 1795. His father, Jean-Jacques-Antoine Caussin de Perceval (1759–1835), was professor of Arabic in the Collège de France. In 18 ...

* Charles Perrault * Francois Pouqueville *

Louis Racine Louis Racine (born 6 November 1692, Paris; died 29 January 1763, Paris) was a French poet of the Age of the Enlightenment. The second son and the seventh and last child of the celebrated tragic dramatist Jean Racine, he was interested in poetry f ...

Charles-Frédéric Reinhard Charles-Frédéric, '' comte'' Reinhard (born Karl Friedrich Reinhard; 2 October 1761 – 25 December 1837) was a Württembergian-born French diplomat, essayist, and politician who briefly served as the Consulate's Minister of Foreign Affairs in 17 ...

Jacques Nicolas Augustin Thierry Augustin Thierry (or ''Jacques Nicolas Augustin Thierry''; 10 May 179522 May 1856) was a French historian. Although originally a follower of Henri de Saint-Simon, he later developed his own approach to history. A committed liberal, his approach ...

Jacques de Tourreil Jacques de Tourreil (Toulouse, 18 November 1656 – Paris, 11 October 1714) was a French jurist, orator, translator and man of letters. Biography The author of translations of Demosthenes and essays on jurisprudence, Tourreil was elected to the ...

* Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune *

Joseph Vendryes Joseph Vendryes or Vendryès (; 13 January 1875, Paris – 30 January 1960) was a French Celtic linguist. After studying with Antoine Meillet, he was chairman of Celtic languages and literature at the École Pratique des Hautes Études. He found ...

William Henry Waddington William Henry Waddington (11 December 182613 January 1894) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister in 1879, and as an Ambassador of France. Early life and education Waddington was born at the Château of Saint-Rémy in Eure-et-Loi ...

* Charles Athanase Walckenaer *

Henri-Alexandre Wallon Henri-Alexandre Wallon (23 December 1812 – 13 November 1904) was a French historian and statesman whose decisive contribution to the creation of the Third Republic led him to be called the "Father of the Republic". He was the grandfather of psy ...

Publications

Publications of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1710-1843)

References

External links

*
Notes on the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres from the Scholarly Societies project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Academie Des Inscriptions Et Belles-Lettres Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Latin epigraphy Greek epigraphy 1663 establishments in France *