Jean-Jacques Barthélemy
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Jean-Jacques Barthélemy (20 January 1716 – 30 April 1795) was a French scholar who became the first person to
decipher DECIPHER is a web-based resource and database of genomic variation data from analysis of patient DNA. It documents submicroscopic chromosome abnormalities ( microdeletions and duplications) and pathogenic sequence variants (single nucleotide ...
an extinct language. He deciphered the
Palmyrene alphabet The Palmyrene alphabet was a historical Semitic alphabet used to write Palmyrene Aramaic. It was used between 100 BCE and 300 CE in Palmyra in the Syrian desert. The oldest surviving Palmyrene inscription dates to 44 BCE. The last surviving in ...
in 1754 and the
Phoenician alphabet The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet (more specifically, an abjad) known in modern times from the Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean region. The name comes from the Phoenician civilization. The Phoenician alpha ...
in 1758.


Early years

Barthélemy was born at
Cassis Cassis (; Occitan: ''Cassís'') is a commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, whose coastline is known in English as the French Riviera, in Southern France. In 201 ...
, in
Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
, and began his classical studies at the College of Oratory in
Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
. He took up philosophy and theology at the
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
s' college, and finally attended the
seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
of the
Lazarists , logo = , image = Vincentians.png , abbreviation = CM , nickname = Vincentians, Paules, Lazarites, Lazarists, Lazarians , established = , founder = Vincent de Paul , fou ...
. While studying for the priesthood, which he intended to join, he devoted much attention to oriental languages, and was introduced by a friend to the study of classical antiquities, and particularly to the field of numismatics.


Career

In 1744, he went to Paris with a letter of introduction to
Claude Gros de Boze Claude Gros de Boze (28 January 1680 – 10 September 1753) was a French scholar and numismatist. Biography De Boze was born at Lyon. Studying in Lyon and Paris, and settling in the latter around 1700, he gained the support of Nicolas-Joseph ...
, Perpetual Secretary of 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 ( epig ...
and Keeper of the Royal Collection of Medals. He became assistant to de Boze and in 1753 succeeded him in this post, remaining in this position until the
Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
. During his term of office he nearly doubled the size of the collection. In 1755, he accompanied the French ambassador, the
duc de Choiseul {{Unreferenced, date=April 2019 Choiseul is an illustrious noble family from Champagne, France, descendants of the comtes of Langres. The family's head was Renaud III de Choiseul, comte de Langres and sire de Choiseul, who in 1182 married Alix ...
to Italy, where he spent three years in
archaeological 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 ...
research. Choiseul had a great regard for Barthélemy, and on his return to France, Barthélemy became an inmate of his house, and received valuable preferments from his patron. In June 1755 he was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
of London. In 1789, after the publication of his ''
Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece ''Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece'' (French: ''Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce'') was a fictional work about the travels of the Scythian named Anacharsis in Greece in the middle of the 4th century BCE, written by Jean-Jacques Bart ...
'', he was elected a member of the
Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
. During the Revolution Barthélemy was arrested (September 1793) as an
aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...
and confined in a prison for a few days. The
Committee of Public Safety The Committee of Public Safety (french: link=no, Comité de salut public) was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. S ...
, however, were no sooner informed by the Duchess of Choiseul of the arrest than they gave orders for his immediate release, and in 1793 he was nominated librarian of 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 ...
. He refused this post but resumed his old functions as keeper of medals, and enriched the national collection by many valuable accessions. Having been despoiled of his fortune by the Revolution, he died in poverty.


Works


Decipherment

Barthélemy was the first to successfully decipher ancient oriental
extinct language An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, especially if the language has no living descendants. In contrast, a dead language is one that is no longer the native language of any community, even if it is still in use, li ...
s, first the
Palmyrene alphabet The Palmyrene alphabet was a historical Semitic alphabet used to write Palmyrene Aramaic. It was used between 100 BCE and 300 CE in Palmyra in the Syrian desert. The oldest surviving Palmyrene inscription dates to 44 BCE. The last surviving in ...
in 1754, followed by the
Phoenician alphabet The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet (more specifically, an abjad) known in modern times from the Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean region. The name comes from the Phoenician civilization. The Phoenician alpha ...
in 1758.


Palmyrene alphabet

Examples of Palmyrene inscriptions were printed as far back as 1616, but accurate copies of Palmyrene/Greek bilingual inscriptions were not available until 1753, with the publication of ''Les Ruines De Palmyre'' by Robert Wood and James Dawkins. The Palmyrene alphabet was deciphered in 1754, literally overnight, by Abbé Jean-Jacques Barthélemy using these new, accurate copies of bilingual inscriptions. He relied essentially on the transcription of proper names to identify the value of each letter. File:Barthélémy Alphabet palmyrien.jpg, Palmyrian alphabet, in Barthélémy, 1754 File:Barthélémy Inscriptions palmyriennes.jpg, Palmyrian-Greek bilingual inscriptions in Barthélémy, 1754


Phoenician alphabet

Barthélémy Alphabet phénicien.jpg, Barthélémy's summary of the Phoenician alphabet. No.1 is from the
Cippi of Melqart The Cippi of Melqart are a pair of Phoenician marble cippi that were unearthed in Malta under undocumented circumstances and dated to the 2nd century BC. These are votive offerings to the god Melqart, and are inscribed in two languages, Ancie ...
, No.2 is from his selection of coins, and No. 3 is from the
Pococke Kition inscriptions The Pococke Kition inscriptions were a group of 31 Phoenician and 2 non-Phoenician inscriptions found in Cyprus and published by Richard Pococke in 1745. In describing Kition (modern Larnaca), Pococke wrote: "the walls seem to have been very stron ...
. Barthélémy Inscriptions phéniciennes.jpg, Barthélémy transcription of the
Pococke Kition inscriptions The Pococke Kition inscriptions were a group of 31 Phoenician and 2 non-Phoenician inscriptions found in Cyprus and published by Richard Pococke in 1745. In describing Kition (modern Larnaca), Pococke wrote: "the walls seem to have been very stron ...
. Barthélémy's No. 1+2 is Pococke's No. 2 (KAI 35), and Barthélémy's No. 3+4 is Pococke's No. 4. The other two are Hebrew transliterations of the same inscriptions. Barthélémy Médailles phéniciennes.jpg, Barthélémy Phoenician coins


Egyptian hieroglyphs

Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, working with
Anne Claude de Caylus Anne Claude de Tubières-Grimoard de Pestels de Lévis, ''comte de Caylus'', marquis d'Esternay, baron de Bransac (Anne Claude Philippe; 31 October, 16925 September 1765), was a French antiquarian, proto-archaeologist and man of letters. Born in ...
, identified that non-hieroglyphic cursive Egyptian scripts seemed to consist of alphabetical letters graphically derived from hieroglyphs, in ''Recueil d'antiquités égyptiennes'', 1752. This insight was published in English in ''
The Divine Legation of Moses ''The Divine Legation of Moses'' is the best-known work of William Warburton, an English theologian of the 18th century who became bishop of Gloucester. As its full title makes clear, it is a conservative defence of orthodox Christian belief agains ...
'' by
William Warburton William Warburton (24 December 16987 June 1779) was an English writer, literary critic and churchman, Bishop of Gloucester from 1759 until his death. He edited editions of the works of his friend Alexander Pope, and of William Shakespeare. Li ...
in 1765. Barthélémy was also the first to suggest, in volume V of the ''Recueil'' of
Count Caylus Anne Claude de Tubières-Grimoard de Pestels de Lévis, ''comte de Caylus'', marquis d'Esternay, baron de Bransac (Anne Claude Philippe; 31 October, 16925 September 1765), was a French antiquarian, proto-archaeologist and man of letters. Born in ...
, published in 1762, that the signs in Egyptian
cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...
s probably represented royal names. This discovery by Barthélémy was acknowledged by Champollion in his ''Précis''.Mentioned in:


The Voyage

Barthélemy was the author of a number of learned works on antiquarian subjects, but the great work on which his fame rests is ''
Travels of Anacharsis the younger in Greece ''Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece'' (French: ''Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce'') was a fictional work about the travels of the Scythian named Anacharsis in Greece in the middle of the 4th century BCE, written by Jean-Jacques Bart ...
'' (French: ''Voyage du jeune Anarcharsis en Grèce'', 4 vols., 1787). He had begun it in 1757 and had been working on it for thirty years. The hero, a young
Scythia Scythia (Scythian: ; Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) or Scythica (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Pontic Scythia, was a kingdom created by the Scythians during the 6th to 3rd centuries BC in the Pontic–Caspian steppe. Hi ...
n descended from the famous philosopher
Anacharsis Anacharsis (; grc, Ἀνάχαρσις) was a Scythian philosopher; he travelled from his homeland on the northern shores of the Black Sea, to Ancient Athens, in the early 6th century BC, and made a great impression as a forthright and outspok ...
, is supposed to repair to
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
for instruction in his early youth, and after making the tour of her republics, colonies and islands, to return to his native country and write this book in his old age, after the
Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by ...
ian hero had overturned the
Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...
. In the manner of modern travellers, he gives an account of the customs, government, and antiquities of the country he is supposed to have visited. A copious introduction supplies whatever may be wanting in respect to historical details, while various dissertations on the music of the Greeks, on the literature of the
Athenians Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
, and on the economy, pursuits, ruling passions, manners, and customs of the surrounding states supply ample information on the subjects of which they treat. Modern scholarship has superseded most of the details in the ''Voyage'', but the author himself did not imagine his book to be a register of accurately ascertained facts. Rather, he intended to afford to his countrymen, in an interesting form, some knowledge of Greek civilisation. The ''Charicles'', or ''Illustrations of the Private Life of the Ancient Greeks'' of
Wilhelm Adolf Becker Wilhelm Adolf Becker (179630 September 1846) was a German classical scholar. Biography Becker was born in Dresden, the son of German art historian, numismatist and author Wilhelm Gottlieb Becker. At first destined for a commercial life, he was in ...
is an attempt in a similar direction.


Other

Barthélemy left a number of essays on Oriental languages and archaeology, originally read before the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres; ''Les amours de Caryte et de Polydore'', a novel illustrating ancient manners; and ''Mémoires'' of his life. Barthélemy's correspondence with Paolo Paciaudi, chiefly on antiquarian subjects, was edited with the ' in 1877 by Charles Nisard. His letters to the comte de Caylus were published by Antoine Serieys as ''Un voyage en Italie'' (1801), and his letters to
Mme du Deffand Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand (25 September 1696 – 23 September 1780) was a French hostess and patron of the arts. Life Madame du Deffand was born at the Château de Chamrond, in Ligny-en-Brionnais, a village near Charolles ...
, with whom he was on intimate terms, in the ' (1866), edited by the marquis de Sainte-Aulaire. See also ''Mémoires sur la vie de l'abbé Barthélemy, écrits par lui-même'' (1824), with a notice by Lalande. His works, ''Oeuvres complètes'' (4 vols. 1821), contain a notice by Villenave, who edited them.


Works

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References


Sources

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barthelemy, Jean-Jacques 1716 births 1795 deaths French archaeologists French numismatists Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Members of the Académie Française Phoenician-Punic studies