Jacques-Joseph Champollion-Figeac (), also known as Champollion ''l'aîné'' ('the Elder'; 5 October 1778 – 9 May 1867) was a French

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, elder brother of

Jean-François Champollion Jean-François Champollion (), also known as Champollion ''le jeune'' ('the Younger'; 23 December 17904 March 1832), was a French philologist and orientalist, known primarily as the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a founding figure in th ...

(decipherer of the

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

Biography

He was born at

Figeac Figeac (; oc, Fijac) is a commune in the Lot department in south-western France. Figeac is a sub-prefecture of the department. Geography Figeac is on the via Podiensis, a major hiking medieval pilgrimage trail which is part of the Way of St. ...

in the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of

Lot Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to: Common meanings Areas * Land lot, an area of land * Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *Lot number, in batch production *Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...

. He became professor of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and librarian at

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

. His research in Grenoble in 1803 revealed the existence of a

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

crypt under the church of St. Laurent. He was compelled to retire in 1816 on account of the part he had taken during the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

. He afterwards became keeper of manuscripts at the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

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 ...

, and professor of

palaeography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") ...

at the

École des Chartes École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Sav ...

. In 1850 he became librarian of the

Château de Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau (; ) or Château de Fontainebleau, located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The medieval castle and subsequent palace served as a residence f ...

. He was a correspondent, living abroad, of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands from 1832 to 1851.

Works

He edited several of his brother's works, and was also author of original works on

philological Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as the ...

and historical subjects, among which may be mentioned: * ''Antiquités de Grenoble'' (1807) * ''Nouvelles recherches sur les patois ou idiomes vulgaires de la France'' (1809) * ''Nouveaux éclaireissements sur la ville de Cataro, aujourd'hui Grenoble'' (1814) * ''Annales de Lagides'' (1819; supplement, 1821) * ''Chartes latines sur papyrus du VIe siècle de l'ère chrétienne''. * ''Charte de Commune en langue romane, pour la ville de Gréalou en Quercy; publiée avec sa traduction française et des recherches sur quelques points de l'histoire de la langue romane en Europe et dans le Levant'' (1829), containing a partial edition of the

Arabic–Old French glossary An Arabic–Old French glossary (or phrase book) occupies the final thirteen pages of the 16th-century manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Copte 43, where it functions as an appendix to an Arabic treatise on Coptic lexicography ...

* ''L'Egypt ancienne et moderne'' (1840) Based on his brother's manuscript collections. * ''L'écriture démotique égyptienne'' (1843) Based on his brother's manuscript collections. * ''Traité élémentaire d'archeologie'' (2d ed. 1843) * ''Histoire des peuples anciens et modernes, l'Asie centrale, l'Inde et la Chine'' (1857) * ''Monographie du palais de Fontainebleau'' (1859–64) * ''Documents paléographiques relatifs à l'histoire des beaux-arts et des belles-lettres pendant le moyen âge'' (1868)

Legacy

His son Aimé-Louis (1812–1894) became his father's assistant at the Bibliothèque Nationale and, besides a number of works on historical subjects, wrote a biographical and bibliographical study of his family in ''Les Deux Champollion'' (Grenoble, 1887). In Vif near Grenoble, The

Champollion Museum The Champollion Museum (french: Musée Champollion) is located in Figeac, Lot. It houses a collection devoted to Figeac's most famous son, Jean-François Champollion. It was inaugurated 19 December 1986 in the presence of President François Mi ...

is located at the former abode of Jacques Joseph.

In popular culture

Champollion was portrayed by

Stuart Bunce Stuart Alexander Bunce (born 21 October 1971) is an English actor who is best known for his portrayal of the First World War poet Wilfred Owen in the film ''Regeneration'' directed by Gillies MacKinnon. Biography Bunce was born in Beckenham, Kent ...

in the 2005

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

docudrama ''

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 Mediter ...

''.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Champollion-Figeac, Jacques Joseph 1778 births 1867 deaths People from Lot (department) 19th-century French archaeologists French male non-fiction writers Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences