Marie-Alphonse Dain (better known as Alphonse Dain) was a French Hellenist and

Byzantinist Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination ...

. He was born 3 April 1896 at

Chavignon Chavignon () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography The river Ailette forms most of the commune's northern border. Population See also *Communes of the Aisne department The following i ...

(

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; ) is a French departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne (river), Aisne. In 2020, it had a population of 529,374. Geography The department borders No ...

) and died 10 July 1964 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He was a major figure in the field of Greek

codicology Codicology (; from French ''codicologie;'' from Latin , genitive , "notebook, book" and Greek , ''-logia'') is the study of codices or manuscript books. It is often referred to as "the archaeology of the book," a term coined by François Masai. ...

and

palaeography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...

and a pioneer of modern scholarship on Byzantine military texts.

Career

Dain’s academic studies were initially delayed by his service in the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, which earned him the

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

. He attended the

École du Louvre The École du Louvre () is a selective institution of higher education and prestigious ''grande école'' located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology ...

(1922-1924), where he was a student of Paul Mazon and

Edmond Pottier Edmond François Paul Pottier (13 August 1855, Saarbrücken – 4 July 1934, Paris) was an art historian and archaeologist who was instrumental in establishing the Corpus vasorum antiquorum. He was a pioneering scholar in the study of Pottery of A ...

, and was certified in Letters in 1926. He was successively Greek Assistant (1922), Professor of Greek Letters (1938) and Dean of the Faculty of Letters (1954-1964) of the

Institut Catholique de Paris The Institut catholique de Paris (, abbr. ICP), known in English as the Catholic University of Paris (and in Latin as ''Universitas catholica Parisiensis''), is a private university located in Paris, France. History: 1875–present The Institut ...

. He was also Lecturer (1932) and Director of Studies (1942) of Greek Palaeography at the

École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...

. He became a Doctor of Letters in 1946, with a thesis concerning the textual history of Aelian the Tactician. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, his active participation in the Resistance earned him the French

Médaille de la Résistance The Resistance Medal (, ) was a decoration bestowed by the French Committee of National Liberation, based in the United Kingdom, during World War II. It was established by a decree of General Charles de Gaulle on 9 February 1943 "to recognize the ...

. He was an officer of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in a military capacity. Since his youth a member of the

Association des Études grecques Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

and the

Société des Études latines Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy ...

, he served on the board of these societies and as president in 1949 and 1956. He also joined the

Association Guillaume Budé The Association Guillaume Budé, named after the 16th century humanist Guillaume Budé, is a French cultural and learned society dedicated to the promotion of humanities. The current president of the society is the Hellenist Jacques Jouanna. The ...

, of which he was Secretary, then Vice-President. As Director of the

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from 1954 to 1964, he introduced a more rigorous scientific approach to the editing of Greek and Latin texts, which made this series of edition-translations a standard reference collection. He was Executive Secretary of the

International Association of Byzantine Studies International Association of Byzantine Studies (, AIEB) was launched in 1948. It is an international co-ordinating body that links national Byzantine Studies member groups. Background and Activities The AIEB was established in 1948 as an outgrowt ...

from 1949 to 1962. He was also Director of the Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts of the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

and Member of the Conseil supérieur de l'Éducation nationale. In 1962 he was elected membre libre résidant of the

Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

. Devoting his studies in particular to Greek palaeography and codicology, he is considered one of the founders of the modern disciplines in France. His publications were especially concerned with the textual histories and manuscript transmission of Greek military writers and of Byzantine legal texts.P. Rance
"Introduction"
in P. Rance and N.V. Sekunda (edd.), ''Greek'' Taktika. ''Ancient Military Writing and its Heritage'' (Gdańsk 2017) 9–64 at 31–32. He also published manuals of

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

language and verse metre.

Selected publications (books)

* ''Les manuscrits d' Onésandros'' (1930) * ''Inscriptions grecques du

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

. Les textes inédits'' (1933) * ''La tradition du texte d'Héron de Byzance'' (1933) * '' Léon VI le Sage Problemata'' (1935) * ''Inscriptions grecques du musée du Bardo'' (1936) * ''La «Tactique» de Nicéphore Ouranos'' (1937) * ''Sylloge Tacticorum quæ olim «inedita Leonis tactica» dicebatur'' (1938) * '' Anthologie grecque'', vol. IV et VII (1938, 1957) (with P. Waltz, A.-M. Desrousseaux and G. Soury) * ''Le «Corpus perditum»'' (1939) * ''La collection florentine des tacticiens grecs'' (1940) * ''Leçon sur la stylistique grecque'' (1941) * ''L'«Extrait tactique» tiré de Léon VI le Sage'' (1942) * ''Naumachica, partim adhuc inedita'' (1943) * ''Les «Novelles» de Léon VI le Sage'' (1944) (with P. Noailles) * ''Leçon sur la métrique grecque'' (1944) ; * ''Histoire du texte d'Élien le Tacticien, des origines à la fin du Moyen Âge'' (1946) * ''Les manuscrits'' (1949) * ''Les types de phrase en grec'' (1952) * ''Grammaire grecque'' (1952) (with J. de Foucault et P. Poulain) * ''Le «Philétæros» attribué à Hérodien'' (1954) * ''Tragédies de Sophocle'', I: ''Les Trachiniennes, Antigone'' (1955); II: ''Ajax, Œdipe Roi, Électre'' (1958); III: ''Philoctète, Œdipe à Colone'' (1960) * ''Précis de morphologie grecque'' (1957) (with J. de Foucault et P. Poulain) ; * ''Traité de métrique grecque'' (posthumous, 1965) * ''Le «Poliorcétique » d' Énée le Tacticien'' (posthumous, 1967)

References

External links

Persée archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dain, Alphonse French Byzantinists French hellenists Codicologists Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 1896 births 1964 deaths