Jean-Jacques Barthélemy

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Jean-Jacques Barthélemy

Jean-Jacques Barthélemy (also: Abbé Barthélemy ; * January 20, 1716 in Cassis ; † January 30, 1795 in Paris ) was a French Graecist , antiquarian , numismatist , writer, member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and member of the Académie française .

life and work

Jean-Jacques Barthélemy came from a long-established family from Aubagne near Marseille . He lost his mother when he was four years old. He went to school in Marseilles, first with the Oratorians , who, however , were considered Jansenist and not well suffered by Bishop Belsunce , who was a Jesuit , then with the Jesuits, where he came into contact with learning. For the time being, adhering to his spiritual career, he switched to the seminary of the Lazarists , but decided on classical studies and left the seminary in 1741 without ordination, albeit with a tonsure . He turned to the Académie de Marseille and found a mentor in Félix Cary (1699–1754) who introduced him to numismatics and supported him in the study of oriental languages.

In June 1744 he went to Paris with a letter of recommendation to Claude Gros de Boze , was graciously welcomed and met Duclos , Foncemagne , Count Caylus and Claude Sallier in the vicinity of de Boze . In 1745 de Boze, who headed the royal cabinet of coins and antiquities , made him his assistant and in 1747 helped him to be accepted into the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , in whose organ he published numerous scientific papers. At the same time he was a kind of noble helper to Count Caylus. When de Boze died in 1753, he became his numismatic successor and increased the medal collection from 20,000 to 40,000 units in the long years of his activity.

In 1753 he met the Choiseul couple, Étienne-François de Choiseul and Louise Honorine Crozat du Châtel Choiseul (1734–1801), with whom he was to be bound by a lifelong, unbreakable friendship and community of fate. The presence of the ambassador Choiseul in Rome gave Barthélemy, who was accepted into the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London in June 1755, the opportunity to travel to Rome and Naples for three years from August 1755, which he used extensively for archaeological studies and collecting activities, at times in the Correspondence with Count Caylus and Paolo Maria Paciaudi (1710–1785) from Theatin.

Back in Paris, Choiseul obtained lucrative benefices for him . In 1766 he became a pensioner at the Académie des Inscriptions. When the Choiseuls were exiled to Chanteloup Castle from 1770 to 1774 , he shared their seclusion. Choiseul's death in 1785 affected him so much that, as a consolation, he wrote himself a novel, the idea of ​​which had come to him 30 years earlier in Italy: Young Anacharsis' journey through Greece four hundred years before the usual calendar . The novel was published in 7 volumes in 1788 and became one of the greatest book successes of all time. Translated into numerous languages, it was published for a century (now forgotten). In admiration for the book, the Académie française asked him to apply for membership. On March 5, 1789, he was elected as the last member before the dissolution of the Academy (seat no. 19) and solemnly accepted on August 25, 1789.

On September 2, 1793, the 77-year-old Barthélemy was arrested in the course of the French Revolution and imprisoned in the monastery of the Madelonnettes. With the help of the revolutionary Edme-Bonaventure Courtois (1754-1816) Madame Choiseul (who was later temporarily arrested herself) fought him free again after 16 hours. A year and a half later, he died at the age of 79. In Aubagne, the Cours Barthélemy street reminds of him. His monument is in the Cimetière des Passons cemetery in Aubagne.

Publications (selection)

  • Les amours de Carite et Polydor . Paris 1760 (novel).
    • Carite et Polydore . Lausanne / Paris 1796 (with a short biography).
    • (English) Carite and Polydorus . London 1799 ( digitized ).
  • Entretiens sur l'état de la musique grecque, vers le milieu du quatrième siècle, avant l'ère vulgaire . Paris 1777.
  • Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce, dans le milieu du quatrième siècle avant l'ère vulgaire . 5 volumes. Paris 1788, numerous editions, most recently in 1893. - Translation into numerous languages, including:
    • (German) Journey of the young Anacharsis through Greece four hundred years before the usual calendar . 7 volumes. Berlin 1790–1793. (translated by Johann Erich Biester )
    • (English) Travels of Anacharsis the younger in Greece . 7 volumes. London 1790-1791.
  • Abrégé de l'histoire grecque depuis les tems les plus anciens jusqu'à la prize d'Athènes, en 404 avant Jésus-Christ . Paris 1790.
  • Dissertation sur une ancienne inscription grecque relative aux finances des Athéniens . Paris 1792.
  • Halicarnasse, Prienne, Paphos et le Mont-Érix, opuscules posthumes de l'abbé Barthélemy . Paris 1796.
  • Oeuvres diverse . 2 volumes. Paris 1798.
  • Oeuvres complètes , ed. by Mathieu-Guillaume-Thérèse Villenave. 5 volumes. Paris 1821–1822 (with biography and list of publications, vol. 1, pp. I – LX; digitized version ).
  • Traité de morale à l'usage de la jeunesse, extrait des oeuvres diverses de J.-J. Barthelemy . Paris 1823.
  • Mémoire sur les anciens monuments de Rome . Paris 1827.
  • Charles Nisard (ed.): Correspondance inédite du comte de Caylus avec le P. Paciaudi, théatin (1757–1765) suivie de celles de l'abbé Barthélemy et de P. Mariette avec le même . Paris 1877.
  • Pierre E. Richard (Ed.): Mme du Deffand. Correspondance croisée avec la duchesse de Choiseul et l'abbé Barthélemy . 2 volumes. Paris 2011.

literature

  • Irène Aghion: Collecting Antiquities in Eighteenth-Century France . In: Journal of the History of Collections 14, 2002, pp. 193-201.
  • Stanislas de Boufflers : Eloge historique de M. l'abbé Barthélemy . Paris 1806 ( digitized ).
  • À Aubagne, l'abbé Barthélemy, de l'Académie française, savant et homme de lettres au siècle des Lumières. Aubagne 1996.
  • Maurice Badolle: L'Abbé Jean-Jacques Barthélemy (1716–1795) et l'Hellénisme en France dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1926.
  • François de Callataÿ : Jean-Jacques Barthélemy (1716–1795), garde du médaillier royal. A propos d'un dessin inédit de Jacques-Louis David et de various correspondances . In: Laurent Bricault, Andrew Burnett, Vincent Drost, Arnaud Suspène (eds.): Rome et les provinces. Monnayage et histoire. Mélanges offerts à Michel Amandry . Bordeaux 2017, pp. 35–46 ( digitized version ).
  • François de Callataÿ: Le comte de Caylus et l'étude des monnaies antiques . In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 2010, pp. 1329-1363 ( digitized version ).
  • Alain Chauvet: L'Abbé Jean-Jacques Barthélémy et l'Athènes d'Anacharsis . Paris 1976.
  • Madeleine-V. David: En marge du mémoire de l'abbé Barthélemy sur les inscriptions phéniciennes (1758) . In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 1961, pp. 30–42 ( digitized version ).
  • André Dupont-Sommer: Jean-Jacques Barthélemy et l'ancienne Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres . In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 1971, pp. 707-725 ( digitized version ).
  • Mémoires sur la vie et quelques-uns des ouvrages de Jean-Jacq. Barthélemy, écrits par lui-même en 1792 et 1793 . Paris 1798. Paris 1824.
  • Thierry Sarmant: Le Cabinet des médailles de la Bibliothèque nationale (1661-1848). Paris 1994.
  • Thierry Sarmant: De Gaston d'Orléans à l'abbé Barthélemy. Essai d'une sociologie des numismates français des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles . In: Numismatics and Monetary History in the Age of Enlightenment. Contributions to the symposium in the Residenzschloss Dresden, 4. – 9. May 2009 = Numismatic Journal 120/121, 2015, pp. 403–414.
  • Papa Aboubacar Toure: "Le voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce, vers le milieu du IVe siècle avant l'ère vulgaire" by JJ Barthelemy. La découverte de l'Antiquité au dix-huitième siècle . Lille 2001 (Dissertation Aix-Marseille 1)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Barthélemy, Jean-Jacques
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Barthélemy, Abbé
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Graecist, archaeologist, numismatist, writer, member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and member of the Académie française
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1716
PLACE OF BIRTH Cassis
DATE OF DEATH January 30, 1795
Place of death Paris