Georges Daux

Georges Daux (born September 21, 1899 in Bastia , † December 23, 1988 in Paris ) was a French classical philologist and classical archaeologist who became known worldwide primarily as an epigraphist .

Life

Georges Daux studied from 1917 at the École normal supérieure , interrupted by a time as a soldier towards the end of the First World War , and from 1920 at the École française d'Athènes in Athens . From 1924 he was employed at the French embassy in Istanbul as a cultural representative. In 1926 he became a high school teacher in Douai, and in 1927 professor of Greek studies at the University of Dijon . In 1936 he obtained the degree of Docteur ès lettres . In 1944/45 Daux acted as rector of the university and then switched to professor at the Sorbonne in Paris . During these years he was abroad several times, in 1947 on a diplomatic mission in the Balkans and as a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study , in 1949/50 as a visiting professor at Harvard University .

In 1950 Daux went back to Athens as director of the École française d'Athènes . He remained in this position for almost 20 years until 1969. He also worked as a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley ( Sather Professor 1956/57) and at the Getty Museum . In 1953 Daux became a member of the American Philosophical Society , in 1964 a corresponding or 1969 external member of the German Academy of Sciences (GDR) and in 1971 the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres . In 1975 he became a corresponding member of the British Academy . He was also a commander of the Legion of Honor . In 1974 the commemorative publication Mélanges helléniques offerts à Georges Daux was dedicated to him.

Daux's publications were mostly epigraphic and archaeological in nature, but often testified to a great love for ancient literature. He dealt primarily with the evidence of the Hellenistic period . He was considered an outstanding expert on the ancient oracle site of Delphi , where the École française d'Athènes had been researching for decades, and published an unusual amount on this topic. These included current find and research reports as well as larger syntheses, such as a history of the site between 191 and 31 BC. He also dealt with contemporary history. For his own commemorative publication he made a contribution in which he dealt with a modern myth of attacks by Italian soldiers on French territory in the first days of World War II , which he was able to prove to be incorrect.

Fonts

• Delphes au IIe et au Ier siècle avant J.-C. 1937
• Chronology delphique. 1943

literature

• Pierre Amandry: Notice sur la vie et les travaux de Georges Daux, membre de l'Académie. In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 139e année, N. 4, 1995. pp. 886-904 ( online ).
• Michael H. Jameson: Georges Daux (September 21, 1899 - December 23, 1988). In: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. Volume 139, 1995, pp. 78-80 ( JSTOR ).

Web links

• Literature by and about Georges Daux in the catalog of the German National Library