Olivier Masson (3 April 1922, Paris – 23 February 1997, Paris) was a French linguist interested in Greek, Cypriot and Phoenician
epigraphy
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
, especially with the
Cypriot syllabary
The Cypriot or Cypriote syllabary (also Classical Cypriot Syllabary) is a syllabary, syllabic script used in Iron Age Cyprus, from about the 11th to the 4th centuries BCE, when it was replaced by the Greek alphabet. It has been suggested that t ...
and Cypriot archaeology in general. He was professor of Greek philology at the
École pratique des hautes études.
He specialized in
Greek inscriptions
The Greek-language inscriptions and epigraphy are a major source for understanding of the society, language and history of ancient Greece and other Greek-speaking or Greek-controlled areas. Greek inscriptions may occur on stone slabs, pottery ostr ...
from Cyprus as well as in the study of the
Cypro-Minoan script, compiling a corpus of inscriptions of the latter (now obsolete, but the more recent corpus of S. Ferrara is only partially realised).
His wife was
Emilia Masson (1940–2017), née Jovanovic, originally from Serbia. A Hittologist by education, she also made a significant contribution to the archaeology of the Balkans and Asia Minor of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, as well as in the studies of inscriptions from Cyprus and the Vinca culture. After her death, Olivier and Emilia's daughter Diana Masson donated her parents' library to the Center for Cypriot Studies.
Publications
*Masson, O. (1957)
Les inscriptions étéochypriotes: II. IV.Syria, 34 (1/2), 61-80.
*Masson, O. (1957)
Cylindres et cachets chypriotes portant des caractères chyprominoens ''Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique'', ''81''(1), 6-37.
*Masson, O. (1981)
À propos des inscriptions chypriotes de Kafizin ''Bulletin de correspondance hellénique'', ''105''(2), 623-649.
*Masson, O. (1984)
Cesnola et le Tresor de Curium (i) ''Cahiers du Centre d’Etudes Chypriotes'', ''1''(1), 16-26.
*Masson, O., & Hermary, A. (1988)
Le voyage de Ludwig Ross à Chypre en 1845 et les antiquités chypriotes du Musée de Berlin ''Cahiers du Centre d’Études Chypriotes'', ''9''(1), 3-10.
*Masson, O. (1990)
Paul Perdrizet à Chypre en 1896 ''Cahiers du Centre d’Études Chypriotes'', ''13''(1), 27-42.
*Masson, O. (1992)
Encore les royaumes chypriotes dans la liste d'Esarhaddon ''Cahiers du Centre d’Études Chypriotes'', ''18''(2), 27-30.
*Masson, O. (1992)
Diplomates et amateurs d'antiquités à Chypre vers 1866-1878 ''Journal des savants'', ''1''(1), 123-154.
*Masson, O. (1996)
La dispersion des antiquités chypriotes: les deux collections Cesnola ''Cahiers du Centre d’Études Chypriotes'', ''25''(1), 3-28.
*Masson, O. (1997)
Bibliographie thématique des travaux d'Olivier Masson concernant Chypre Cahiers du Centre d’Études Chypriotes, 27, 3-13.
References
1922 births
1997 deaths
Writers from Paris
20th-century French linguists
Scholars of Greek language
Phoenician and Punic studies
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