Robert Edmond Gauthiot (13 June 1876, Paris – 11 September 1916, Paris) was a French Orientalist, linguist and explorer. Born 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 became, in 1909, a member of the Société Asiatique and met

Paul Pelliot Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and the Silk Road regions, and for his acquisition of many important Tibetan Empire-era manuscripts and ...

. Together, they translated the Sogdian manuscript Vessantara Jataka, found by Pelliot among the

Dunhuang manuscripts The Dunhuang manuscripts are a wide variety of religious and secular documents (mostly manuscripts, including Hemp paper, hemp, silk, paper and Woodblock printing, woodblock-printed texts) in Old Tibetan, Tibetan, Chinese, and other languages tha ...

in Mogao Cave 17. Gauthiot interrupted his exploration of the

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a Mountain range, range of mountains between Central Asia and South Asia. They are located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya ...

in July 1914 to return home to serve as a captain in the infantry during

World War I 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 ...

. Gauthiot received 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 ...

before he was wounded at the

Second Battle of Artois The Second Battle of Artois (, ) from 9 May to 18 June 1915, took place on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during the First World War. A German-held Salient (military), salient from Reims to Amiens had been formed in 1914 which me ...

in spring 1915. He died from injuries at Val de Grâce Hospital.

References

* Gorshenina, Svetlana, ''La Route de Samarcande'', éditions Oziane, 2000, p. 196. *Pouillon, Robert, ''Dictionnaire des orientalistes de langue française'', Karthala, 2008, article « Robert Gauthiot ». {{DEFAULTSORT:Gauthiot, Robert Writers from Paris 1876 births 1916 deaths Linguists from France French explorers Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) French orientalists French Army officers Members of the Société Asiatique Iranologists Translators from Finnish Translators from Sanskrit 20th-century French translators French military personnel killed in World War I