Society

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

Paris, France

Society in Paris; part of Institut de France. 11 people in the register connected with it.

History

1841
Félicien de Saulcy, numismatist, is elected to the Académie (seat of Théodore Mionnet); he later brought back a gold cup and antiquities from Cyprus.
Félicien de Saulcy Tatton-Brown 2001
8 May 1846
Letronne speaks at the Académie about the Sargon II stele found at Larnaca. Mas Latrie, in Cyprus 1845-46, had told the Académie of the find; the Académie adopted Letronne's proposal that the stele go to Paris for the Louvre's new Assyrian collection and its Secrétaire Perpétuel wrote to the Minister of Public Instruction (reported by the Journal des débats on 31 May 1846). The stele was bought for Berlin instead.
LarnacaAntoine-Jean Letronne Louis de Mas Latrie Amandry et al. 1987, p. 13 n. 14 Merrillees 2016
5 June 1846
Charles Lenormant shows the Académie drawings and several objects (terracotta heads and statuettes, said to be from Dali, taken for Idalion; a marble head of Venus; a 'Jupiter Salaminius' head said from Palaia Famagusta) brought from Cyprus by Mas Latrie, who gave the series to the Cabinet des Antiques of the Bibliothèque royale. Two objects in the Académie's list are not in Mas Latrie's gift list and their fate is unknown.
DaliCharles Lenormant Louis de Mas Latrie Amandry et al. 1987
10 April 1862
Renan writes to Melchior de Vogüé (then in Cyprus) that he has communicated Vogüé's letter to the Académie, which took great interest; he approves Vogüé's excavation plan and says the Beirut station commander will collect the finds, though the Amathus crater looked impossible to move. A second letter, 1 August 1862, promises the Académie communication and says the Mission de Phénicie will have a fifth book devoted to Cyprus.
Ernest Renan Melchior de Vogüé Bonato 1999
1865
William Henry Waddington (epigraphist and numismatist, who travelled with Vogüé's mission in Cyprus) is elected to the Académie.
Henry William Waddington Foucart-Borville 1985
1868
Melchior de Vogüé enters the Académie (as member libre). On 16 October 1868 the consul Tiburce Colonna-Ceccaldi, not a member, makes a communication to the Académie on his Cyprus work (CRAI 1868, 301-305); Masson notes that through him many objects entered (a collection; destination not read).
Melchior de Vogüé Dominique Albert Edouard Tiburce Colonna-Ceccaldi Foucart-Borville 1985 Masson 1992, p. 123 n. 5 Masson 1992, p. 133 n. 49
1873
Sosthène Grasset d'Orcet submits to the Académie, for the prix Volney, a memoir on Cypriot syllabic writing that Masson calls 'un tissu d'inepties'.
Masson 1992, p. 133 n. 48
June 1877
Michel Bréal's communications to the Académie on the Cypriot syllabary (published in the Journal des Savants 1877) 'régleront définitivement' the decipherment question, per Masson.
Michel Bréal Masson 1992, p. 133 n. 49
1934
Claude Schaeffer starts excavating at Enkomi on behalf of the Académie (1934 on); he is elected a member in 1953. His reports appear in the Comptes rendus of the Académie (e.g. 1949 and 1950, 'Nouvelles découvertes à Enkomi'), and the Missions en Chypre 1932-1935 volume is listed under the Académie's imprint.
EnkomiClaude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer Tatton-Brown 2003 Given 2025, p. 62 Stager & Walker 1989, p. 514
1969
André Dupont-Sommer presents a preliminary commentary on the Phoenician inscribed Red Slip bowl found in the Kition temple (Kathari) courtyard in 1969 to the Académie, and publishes it in its Mémoires (1970); his reading dates the inscription to the end of the ninth century BC.
KitionAndré Dupont-Sommer Karageorghis 1970 Karageorghis 1976, p. 182

People

11 people

Staff and members · 11

Félicien de Saulcymember (from 1841) · member (elected 1841)Tatton-Brown 20011841
Antoine-Jean Letronnemember (1846–1846) · memberAmandry et al. 19871846
Charles Lenormantmember (from 1846) · member presenting communications (inferred)Amandry et al. 19871846
Ernest Renanmember · member; Vogue's letters were communicated to it; editor of the Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum section on CyprusBonato 19991862
Dominique Albert Edouard Tiburce Colonna-Ceccaldiother (16 October 1868 – 16 October 1868) · communication read 16 Oct 1868 (not a member)Masson 1992, p. 123 n. 51868
Melchior de Vogüémember (from 1868) · member (libre)Foucart-Borville 19851868
Michel Bréalother (June–June 1877) · communicated to the Académie, June 1877Masson 1992, p. 133 n. 491877
Claude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffermember (1953–1982) · Enkomi excavation from 1934 on its behalf; elected member 1953Tatton-Brown 20031934
André Dupont-Sommermember (from 1970) · presented his preliminary commentary on the Kition bowl to the Académie; published it in its MémoiresKarageorghis 1976, p. 1821970
Henry William Waddingtonmember (from 1865)Foucart-Borville 1985
Sosthène Grasset d'Orcetother (1862–1873)Masson 1992, p. 133 n. 48

Sources

1.Robert Stuart Merrillees (2016). “Studies on the provenances of the stele of Sargon II from Larnaca (Kition) and the two so-called Dhali (Idalion) silver bowls in the Louvre”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 46, 349-386. Online
2.M. Amandry, A. Hermary, O. Masson (1987). “Les premières antiquités chypriotes du Cabinet des Médailles et la mission Mas Latrie en 1845-1846”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 8, 3-15. Online
3.Lucie Bonato (1999). “Chypre dans les archives de Melchior de Vogüé, II : correspondance de la « mission Vogüé » reçue au cours de l'année 1862”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 29, 141-166. Online
4.Jacques Foucart-Borville (1985). “La correspondance chypriote d'Edmond Duthoit (1862 et 1865)”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 4, 3-60. Online
5.O. Masson (1992). “Diplomates et amateurs d'antiquités à Chypre vers 1866-1878”. Journal des Savants, 123-154.
6.Veronica Tatton-Brown (ed.) (2001). Cyprus in the 19th Century AD: Fact, Fancy and Fiction. Oxford, Oxbow.
7.Veronica Tatton-Brown (2003). “Enkomi: The Notebook in the British Museum”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 33, 9-66. Online
8.V. Karageorghis (1970). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1969”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 94.
9.V. Karageorghis (1976). Kition: Mycenaean and Phoenician Discoveries in Cyprus. London, Thames and Hudson.
10.Michael Given (2025). “Over the landscape, in the landscape? Knowledge and agency in Cypriot archaeology, 1870-1910”. Empire & Excavation: Critical perspectives on archaeology in British-period Cyprus, 1878-1960. Leiden, Sidestone Press.
11.Lawrence E. Stager (ed.), Anne M. Walker (ed.) (1989). American Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus, 1973-1980. Chicago, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.