Marie-Françoise Baslez ( Garnier, 5 May 1946 – 29 January 2022) was a French historian and academic. She specialized in

Hellenistic Judaism Hellenistic Judaism was a form of Judaism in classical antiquity that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Hellenistic culture and religion. Until the early Muslim conquests of the eastern Mediterranean, the main centers of Hellen ...

and primitive Christianity and the persecution faced by the two religious groups.

Biography

Baslez was born on 5 May 1946 in

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

and took preparatory classes in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

before enrolling at the

École normale supérieure de jeunes filles The ''École normale supérieure de jeunes filles'' (also, ''École normale supérieure de Sèvres'') was a French institute of higher education, in Sèvres, now a commune in the suburbs of Paris. The school educated girls only, especially as te ...

in 1966. After earning an

agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...

in history, she defended her thesis under the direction of the Hellenist

André Laronde file:André Laronde-1993.jpg, 300px, André Laronde in Cyrene, Libya, Cyrene, 1973 André Laronde (19 June 1940, in Grenoble – 1 February 2011, in Paris) was a French historian and archaeology, archaeologist. He was a specialist of Greek colonisa ...

. She then taught at the

École normale supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

for nearly 15 years and subsequently from Rennes 2 University and

Paris-East Créteil University Paris-East Créteil University (French: ''Université Paris-Est Créteil'', commonly known as Paris XII or UPEC) is a public university located in Créteil, Île-de-France, France. It was inaugurated in 1970. The institution provides instruction ...

. She was then elected a professor at

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...

, where she taught the history of ancient Christianity. Baslez's work focused on ancient Christianity, ancient Greek novels, and the history of the Jewish religion in the Greek language. She particularly applied the relation between Hellenism and Judaism, from the translation of the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

to the emergence of Christianity. She analyzed the phenomenon of religious persecution and violence, as well as the structures of religious communities. A member of the , Baslez published numerous books and articles and edited ''Les premiers temps de l'Église'' for

Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003, it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by G ...

. A professor at

Paris-Sorbonne University Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; ) was a public university, public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Paris. In 2018, it m ...

, she directed a seminar at the École normale supérieure titled "Religions et sociétés dans le monde gréco-romain". Baslez died in Paris on 29 January 2022, at the age of 75.

Books

*''L'étranger dans la Grèce antique'' (1984) *''Saint-Paul'' (1991) *''Bible et histoire : Judaïsme, hellénisme, christianisme'' (1998) *''Les sources littéraires de l'histoire grecque'' (2003) *''Histoire politique du monde grec antique'' (2004) *''Les persécutions dans l'Antiquité : Victimes, héros, martyres'' (2007) *''Saint Paul : Artisan d'un monde chrétien'' (2008) *''Comment notre monde est devenu chrétien'' (2008) *''Les Premiers bâtisseurs de l'Église : Correspondances épiscopales (IIe-IIIe siècles)'' (2016) *''Jésus : Dictionnaire historique des évangiles'' (2017) *''Comment les chrétiens sont devenus catholiques : I er-Ve siècles'' (2019) *''L’Église à la maison : Histoire des premières communautés chrétiennes (Ier-IIIe siècle)'' (2021)

Awards

* (1992) * (2007) * (2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baslez, Marie-Françoise 1946 births 2022 deaths 20th-century French historians French hellenists Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure French women writers People from Angers 21st-century French historians