Jacques-Joseph Champollion-Figeac (), also known as Champollion ''l'aîné'' ('the Elder'; 5 October 1778 – 9 May 1867) was a French
archaeologist, elder brother of
Jean-François Champollion (decipherer of 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 ...
).
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 S ...
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 collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...
'' of
Lot. 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. 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 vi ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...
, and professor of
palaeography
Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...
at the
École des Chartes. 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 ...
.
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 t ...
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
* ''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 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, Ke ...
in the 2005
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 exam. ...
...