Pierre Devambez (19 November 1902 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 ...

– 14 January 1980 in Paris) was a 20th-century French Hellenist, archaeologist and historian of Greek art.

Biography

The son of André Devambez, Pierre Devambez joined the

École normale supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

in 1922 and passed the agrégation des lettres in 1926. A member of the

French School at Athens The French School at Athens (, EfA; ''Gallikí Scholí Athinón'') is one of the seventeen foreign archaeological institutes operating in Athens, Greece. History Founded in 1846, the EfA is the oldest foreign institute in Athens. Its early f ...

(1928–1933) and of the

Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes c ...

, he sojourned in Istanbul from 1933 to 1937 and wrote there the ''Catalogue des Grands Bronzes''. From 1929 to 1933 he directed the excavations at

Thasos Thasos or Thassos (, ''Thásos'') is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area. The island has an area of 380 km2 and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate regiona ...

, as again in 1953–1954, and the excavations of the

Sinuri Sinuri () was a sanctuary of the god Sinuri in ancient Caria, Anatolia. The ruins of Sinuri are located on the hilltop now called Tarla Tepe, close to the modern village of , Muğla Province, Turkey. It was an active religious centre for over a ...

sanctuary in

Caria Caria (; from Greek language, Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; ) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Carians were described by Herodotus as being Anatolian main ...

(1935–1938). He also participated in the work at

Xanthos Xanthos or Xanthus, also referred to by scholars as ''Arna'', its Lycian name, (, Lycian: 𐊀𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀 ''Arñna'', , Latin: ''Xanthus'') was an ancient city near the present-day village of Kınık, in Antalya Province, Turkey. The ru ...

(1950) and, from 1961 to 1963, at

Laodicea on the Lycus Laodicea on the Lycus ( ''Laodikeia pros tou Lykou''; , also transliterated as ''Laodiceia'' or ''Laodikeia'') ( or archaically as ) was a rich ancient Greek city in Asia Minor, now Turkey, on the river Lycus (Çürüksu). It was located in the ...

. Curator and chief curator of the Department of Greek and Roman antiquities at the

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 ...

from 1937, he was also in charge of Greek ceramics course at 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 ...

. Providing classes at the École Normale Supérieure (1954), he moved the classical archeology seminar in the halls of the Louvre. A director of a seminary in Archaic and Classical Greek religion 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 ...

(1961–1967), he was elected a member 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 ...

in 1970 and would preside the international commission of the '' Corpus vasorum antiquorum''.

Selected publications

*1932: ''Un quartier romain à Thasos (fouilles de 1925 à 1931)'' *1937: ''Grands Bronzes du musée de Stamboul'' *1939: ''La Sculpture grecque'' *1942: ''Sculptures thasiennes'', in ''Bulletin de correspondance hellénique'' *1944: ''Le style grec'', Larousse *1955: ''L'Art au siècle de Périclès'' *1959: ''Le Sanctuaire de Sinuri près de Mylasa'', with E. Haspels *1960: ''Sculptures grecques'' *1962: ''Bas-relief de Téos'' *1962: ''La Peinture grecque'' *1966: ''Dictionnaire de la civilisation grecque'', with R. Flacelière, P. M. Schuhl, R. Martin *1978: ''Grèce'', Hachette *1983: ''Le monde non-chrétien'', Gallimard.

Bibliography

*1980: Pierre Demargne
''Éloge funèbre de M. Pierre Devambez''
in '' Comptes rendus de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres'' *1980: F. Villard, ''Pierre Devambez'', in ''Revue archéologique'' *1981: J. Pouilloux, ''Notice sur la vie et les travaux de Pierre Devambez'', in ''Comptes rendus de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres'' *1981: B. Holtzmann, ''Pierre Devambez 1902-1980'', in ''Encyclopaedia Universalis'' *2007: Eve Gran-Aymerich, ''Les chercheurs de passé'', Éditions du CNRS, 2007, (p. 750–751)

External links

Pierre Devambez
on data.bnf.fr
Pierre Devambez
on Encyclopedia Universalis
Notice sur la vie et les travaux de Pierre Devambez
on Persée {{DEFAULTSORT:Devambez, Pierre École Normale Supérieure alumni Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure French hellenists French art historians Academic staff of the École pratique des hautes études Members of the Institute for Catalan Studies Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Members of the French School at Athens 1902 births Writers from Paris 1980 deaths 20th-century French archaeologists