Hubert-Pascal Ameilhon (born in Paris, 7 April 1730; died 1811) was a French historian and librarian. He first worked at the

Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris The Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, commonly abbreviated with the acronym BHVP, is a public library specializing in the history of the city of Paris, France. Formerly in the Hôtel Saint-Fargeau (now part of the Musée Carnaval ...

, the city of Paris historical library. In 1766 he published a history of trade and seafaring in

Ptolemaic Ptolemaic is the adjective formed from the name Ptolemy, and may refer to: Pertaining to the Ptolemaic dynasty * Ptolemaic dynasty, the Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter * Ptolemaic Kingdom Pertaining ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, a work that was commended by the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigr ...

; he became a member of the Academy in 1766.Hubert-Pascal Ameilhon (1730-1811)
data.bnf.fr He completed the multi-volume ''Histoire du Bas-Empire'', a history of the

Later Roman Empire The Later Roman Empire spans the period from 284 AD (Diocletian's proclamation as emperor) to 641 (death of Heraclius) in the history of the Roman Empire. Evidence Histories In comparison with previous periods, studies on Later Roman history a ...

and early medieval Europe, left unfinished by

Charles Le Beau Charles le Beau (18 October 1701, Paris – 13 March 1778, Paris) was a French historical writer. He was born in Paris, and was educated at the Collège de Sainte-Barbe and the Collège du Plessis; at the latter he remained as a teacher until he ...

. Taking up the work of Gabriel de La Porte du Theil he produced the first published translation (into

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 ...

and French) of the Greek inscription on the

Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts are in Ancien ...

: this was published in 1803. He was responsible for saving up to 800,000 printed books threatened with destruction in the early years of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

.Universal Pronouncing Dictionary of Biography and Mythology, Volume 1
by Joseph Thomas Many of these found a home at the

Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal The Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal (''Library of the Arsenal'', founded 1757) in Paris has been part of the Bibliothèque nationale de France since 1934. History The collections of the library originated with the private library of Marc-René, 3rd ...

, of which he became director in 1800 (perpetual administrator in 1804).

Major works

*''Histoire du commerce et de la navigation des Égyptiens, sous le Règne des Ptolémées'' (1766). *''Histoire du Bas-Empire en commençant à Constantin le Grand par Charles Le Beau'' (vols 22-29, 1781-1817).
''Éclaircissements sur l'inscription grecque du monument trouvé à Rosette''
(1803).

Bibliography

*Hélène Dufresne, ''Érudition et esprit public au XVIIIe siècle: le bibliothécaire Hubert-Pascal Ameilhon (1730-1811)''. Paris: Nizet, 1962

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ameilhon, Hubert-Pascal French Egyptologists French scholars of Roman history 18th-century French historians 19th-century French historians Librarians from Paris Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 1730 births 1811 deaths Writers from Paris French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French male writers 18th-century French male writers