Edmond-Frédéric Le Blant (12 August 1818,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

– 5 July 1897,

) was a French archaeologist and historian. He was the father of the military artist

Julien Le Blant Julien Le Blant (March 30, 1851 - February 28, 1936) was a French painter of military subjects who specialized in the scenes of the Vendée Wars of 1793–1799 that occurred during the French Revolution. Because he came from a family from the Bas ...

. L'Intermédiaire des chercheurs et curieux: Volume 14 1964 "Julien Le Blant était le fils de l'archéologue Edmond-Frédéric Le Blant, membre de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres en 1867,"

Biography

Having received his qualifications to practice law, le Blant he obtained in 1843 a situation in the customs under the Finance Board. This position assured his future and he was free to follow his scientific inclinations. During a voyage through Italy (1847) he visited the Kircher Museum, and his intercourse with G. B. de Rossi determined him to undertake in France the scientific work which the founder of Christian archeology had undertaken in Rome. In 1872, le Blant resigned his post as sub-commissioner of the customs, continuing to devote himself to his studies. In 1883 he became director of the

École française de Rome The École française de Rome (EFR) is a French research institute for history, archaeology, and the social sciences; overseen by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, and a division of the Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et d ...

Works

As early as 1848 Le Blant was commissioned to collect the inscriptions of the earliest days of Christianity in Gaul, and like de Rossi, he made an investigation of manuscripts, printed books, museums, churches, and the Gallo-Roman cemeteries. In 1856 appeared the first volume of his "Recueil des inscriptions chrétienne des Gaules antérieures au VIIIe siècle". The second volume of the work (Paris, 1865) obtained for its author his election as a member of the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

. A third volume appeared in 1892 under the title of "Nouveau Recueil". He wrote learned articles on the method of Christian

epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

, on Christian art, on the origin, progress, popular beliefs, and moral influence of Christianity in ancient Gaul. He tried to gather into one "Corpus" the Christian

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a cadaver, corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from ...

of which so many have been preserved in the south of France. In 1878 he published in Paris his "Etudes sur les sarcophages chrétiens de la ville d'Arles", which was followed by a second work "Etudes sur les sarcophages chrétiens de la Gaule" (Paris, 1886). In the introduction he treats of the form, ornamentation, and iconography of these monuments; he dwells upon the relationship between the sarcophagi of

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

and those of Rome, and the difference between them and those of the south-west of France, in which he finds more distinct signs of local influence. His studies and his personal tastes led him to take an interest also in the history of the persecutions and the martyrs. In numerous writings he treats in particular of the judicial bases of the persecutions and the critical value of the ''

Acts of the Martyrs Acts of the Martyrs (Latin ''Acta Martyrum'') are accounts of the suffering and death of a Christian martyr or group of martyrs. These accounts were collected and used in church liturgies from early times, as attested by Augustine of Hippo, Saint ...

''. These studies were crowned by his work "Persécuteurs et Martyrs" (Paris, 1893), in which he displays his knowledge of history and his deep Christian convictions. In addition, le Blant collaborated with Jacquemart in "Histoire artistique, industrielle et commerciale de la porcelaine" (Paris, 1862); "Manuel d'épigraphie chrétienne" (Paris, 1869); "Les Actes des martyrs, Supplément aux Acta sincera' de Dom Ruinart" (Paris, 1882).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Blant, Edmond 1818 births 1897 deaths 19th-century French historians 19th-century French archaeologists French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French male writers Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres