The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership ...

devoted to

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institut ...

. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (

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 w ...

) and historical literature (see

Belles-lettres is a category of writing, originally meaning beautiful or fine writing. In the modern narrow sense, it is a label for literary works that do not fall into the major categories such as fiction, poetry, or drama. The phrase is sometimes used pejora ...

History

Institut de France - Académie française et pont des Arts

The Académie originated in 1663 as a council of four

humanists Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

, "scholars who were the most versed in the knowledge of history and antiquity":

Jean Chapelain Jean Chapelain (4 December 1595 – 22 February 1674) was a French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle, best known for his role as an organizer and founding member of the Académie française. Chapelain acquired considerable prestige as a ...

, François Charpentier,

Jacques Cassagne Jacques Cassagne or Jacques de Cassaigne (1 January 1636, Nîmes – 19 May 1679, Paris) was a French clergyman, poet, and moralist. Biography A doctor of theology, he was 'garde' of the king's library and entered the Académie française aged 2 ...

Amable de Bourzeys Amable de Bourzeis (6 April 1606, Volvic – 2 August 1672, Paris) was a French churchman, writer, hellenist, and Academician. A founding member of the Académie française, in 1663 Jean-Baptiste Colbert also made him one of the five foundin ...

, and

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tale ...

. In another source, Perrault is not mentioned, and other original members are named as François Charpentier and a M. Douvrier. Etienne Fourmont, 1683–1745: Oriental and Chinese languages in eighteenth ... By Cécile Leung, page 51 The organizer was

King Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

's finance minister

Jean-Baptiste Colbert Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the country ...

. Its first name was the ''Académie royale des Inscriptions et Médailles'', and its mission was to compose or obtain

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

inscriptions to be written on public monuments and medals issued to celebrate the events of Louis' reign. However, under Colbert's management, the Académie performed many additional roles, such as determining the art that would decorate the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

. In 1683 Minister Louvois increased the membership to eight. In 1701 its membership was expanded to 40 and reorganized under the leadership of Chancellor Pontchartrain. It met twice a week at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the '' Venus de Milo''. A central ...

, its members began to receive significant pensions, and was made an official state institution on the king's decree. In January 1716 it was permanently renamed to the ''Académie royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres'' with the broader goal of elevating the prestige of the French monarchy using physical symbols uncovered or recovered through the methods of classical erudition. The Académie produced a catalogue of medals created in honor of Louis XIV, ''Médailles sur les événements du règne de Louis le Grand, avec des explications historiques'', first published in 1702. A second edition was published in 1723, eight years after Louis' death. Each page of the catalogue featured engraved images of the obverse and reverse of a single medal, followed by a lengthy description of the event upon which it was based. The second edition added some medals for events prior to 1700 which were not included in the first volume, and in some cases the images of medals in the earlier edition were altered, resulting in an improved version. The catalogues may therefore be seen as an artistic effort to enhance the king's image, rather than as an accurate historical record.

Role

In the words of the Académie's charter, it is:

primarily concerned with the study of the monuments, the documents, the languages, and the cultures of the civilizations of antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the classical period, as well as those of non-European civilizations.

Today the academy is composed of fifty-five French members, forty associate foreign members, fifty French corresponding members, and fifty foreign corresponding members. The seats are distributed evenly among "orientalists" (scholars of Asia and the Islamic world, from ancient times), "antiquists" (scholars of Greece, Rome, and Gaul, including archaeologists, numismatists, philologists and historians), "medievalists", and a fourth miscellaneous group of linguists, law historians, historians of religion, historians of thought, and prehistorians. The Volney Prize is awarded by the Institut de France, based on the proposal of the ''Académie''. It publishes ''Mémoires''.

Prizes, grants and medals awarded by the ''Académie''

Prizes *

Prix Ambatielos Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who al ...

* Prix d'histoire des religions de la fondation "Les Amis de Pierre-Antoine Bernheim" *

Prix des antiquités de la France Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who al ...

* Prix Emile Benveniste *

Prix Bordin The Prix Bordin is a series of prizes awarded annually by each of the five institutions making up the Institut Français since 1835. History The prize was created by Charles-Laurent Bordin, a notary in Paris from 1794 to 1820, who bequeathed 12,0 ...

Prix du budget Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who al ...

Prix Honoré Chavée Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who al ...

* Prix Croiset * Prix Duchalais * Prix Paule Dumesnil * Prix Roman et Tania Ghirshman *

Prix Gobert Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who al ...

Prix Hirayama Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who al ...

* Prix de la Grange *

Prix Serge Lancel Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who al ...

Prix Raymond et Simone Lantier Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who al ...

* Prix Marie-Françoise et Jean Leclant * Prix Gaston Maspero * Prix Jean-Charles Perrot * Prix George Perrot * Prix Jeanine et Roland Plottel *

Prix Saintour The Prix Saintour is a series of prizes awarded annually by each of the five institutions making up the Institut de France since 1835. It is an annual literary prize, created in by the Académie française and awarded from 1893 to 1989 The Acad� ...

* Prix Émile Sénart * Prix Léon Vandermeesch * Prix de l'Institut de France 2018 * Prix de la Fondation Colette Caillat * Grand Prix d'archéologie de la Fondation Simone et Cino del Duca * Prix Jean_Edouard Goby * Prix Hugot * Prix Stanislas Julien Grants * Subvention Louis de Clercq * Bourse Courtois * Subvention de la Fondation Dourlans * Subvention Garnier-Lestamy * Subvention Max Serres de la Fondation Eve Delacroix * Bourse Jacques Vandier Medals * Médailles des Antiquités de la France * Médaille Jean-Jacques Berger * Médaille Clermont-Ganneau * Médaille du Baron de Courcel * Médaille Delalande-Guérineau * Médaille Drouin * Médaille Alfred Dutens * Médaille Fould * Médaille Gobert * Médaille Stanislas Julien * Médaille le Fèvre-Deumier * Médaille Gustave Mendel * Médaille Gabriel-Auguste Prost

Prominent members

Eugène Albertini Eugène Albertini (2 October 1880 – 15 February 1941) was a 20th-century French teacher in Latin literature, a historian of ancient Rome, especially for North Africa and an . He was a member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres ...

* Antoine Anselme *

Jean Sylvain Bailly Jean Sylvain Bailly (; 15 September 1736 – 12 November 1793) was a French astronomer, mathematician, freemason, and political leader of the early part of the French Revolution. He presided over the Tennis Court Oath, served as the mayor of Par ...

* Anatole Jean-Baptiste Antoine de Barthélemy *

Charles Batteux Charles Batteux (6 May 171314 July 1780) was a French philosopher and writer on aesthetics. Biography Batteux was born in Alland'Huy-et-Sausseuil, Ardennes, and studied theology at Reims. In 1739 he came to Paris, and after teaching in the col ...

Pierre Louis Jean Casimir de Blacas Pierre-Louis Jean Casimir, Count of Blacas d'Aulps (10 January 1771 – 17 November 1839), later created 1st Duke of Blacas (1821), was a French antiquarian, nobleman and diplomat during the Bourbon Restoration. Biography Early life He was ...

* Michel Bréal * Antoine Leonard de Chézy *

Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau (19 February 1846 – 15 February 1923) was a noted French Orientalist and archaeologist. Biography Clermont-Ganneau was born in Paris, the son of Simon Ganneau, a sculptor and mystic who died in 1851 when Clerm ...

* Henri Cordier *

André Dacier André Dacier ( la, Andreas Dacerius; 6 April 165118 September 1722) was a French classical scholar and editor of texts. He began his career with an edition and commentary of Festus' '' De verborum significatione'', and was the first to produce a ...

Léopold Delisle Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name) * Leopold (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold Bloom, the protagonist ...

* Jean Denis, comte Lanjuinais *

Gabriel Devéria Jean-Gabriel Devéria (8 March 1844 – 12 July 1899), known as Gabriel Devéria, was a French diplomat and interpreter who worked for the French diplomatic service in China from the age of sixteen. He was also a noted sinologist and pioneer Ta ...

Louis Duchesne Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne (; 13 September 1843 – 21 April 1922) was a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions. Life Descended from a family of Breton sailor ...

* Émile Egger * Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès *

André Félibien André Félibien (May 161911 June 1695), ''sieur des Avaux et de Javercy'', was a French chronicler of the arts and official court historian to Louis XIV of France. Biography Félibien was born at Chartres. At the age of fourteen he went to Pari ...

Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie (12 August 17748 September 1857) was a French classical scholar. Life He was born in Paris. In 1792 he entered the public service during the administration of General Dumouriez. Driven out in 1795, he was ...

Nicolas Fréret Nicolas Fréret (; 15 February 1688 – 8 March 1749) was a French scholar. Life He was born at Paris on 15 February 1688. His father was ''procureur'' to the ''parlement'' of Paris, and destined him to the profession of the law. His first tuto ...

* Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle *

Étienne Fourmont Étienne Fourmont (23 June 1683 – 8 December 1745) was a French scholar and Orientalist who served as professor of Arabic at the Collège de France and published grammars on the Arabic, Hebrew, and Chinese languages. Although Fourmont is r ...

Antoine Galland Antoine Galland (; 4 April 1646 – 17 February 1715) was a French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of ''One Thousand and One Nights'', which he called ''Les mille et une nuits''. His version of the tal ...

* Ernst Hoepffner * Pierre Amédée Jaubert *

Stanislas Julien Stanislas Aignan Julien (13 April 179714 February 1873) was a French sinologist who served as the Chair of Chinese at the Collège de France for over 40 years and was one of the most academically respected sinologists in French scholarship. J ...

* Alexandre Maurice Blanc de Lanautte, Comte d'Hauterive *

Pierre Henri Larcher Pierre Henri Larcher (12 October 1726 – 22 December 1812) was a French classical scholar and archaeologist. Life Born at Dijon, and originally intended for the law, he abandoned it for the classics. His (anonymous) translation of Chariton's '' C ...

* Jean Lebeuf * Edmond Le Blant * Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance *

Jean Leclant Jean Leclant (8 August 1920 – 16 September 2011) was a renowned Egyptologist who was an Honorary Professor at the College of France, Permanent Secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Letters of the Institut de France, and Honorary S ...

Émile Littré Émile Maximilien Paul Littré (; 1 February 18012 June 1881) was a French lexicographer, freemason and philosopher, best known for his ''Dictionnaire de la langue française'', commonly called . Biography Littré was born in Paris. His father, ...

* Leonardo López Luján * Jean Mabillon * Louis Ferdinand Alfred Maury * Joachim Menant * Franz Miklosich *

Agénor Azéma de Montgravier Michel Auguste Martin Agénor Azéma de Montgravier (28 October 1805, in Béziers – 14 September 1863, in Montpellier) was a French archaeologist and soldier. Career He was one of the most distinguished students at the ''École Polytechnique'' fr ...

Jean Marie Pardessus Jean Marie Pardessus (August 11, 1772 – May 27, 1853) was a French lawyer. Life He was born at Blois, and educated by the Oratorians, then studied law, at first under his father, a lawyer at the Presidial, who was a pupil of Robert Joseph Poth ...

Alexis Paulin Paris Alexis Paulin Paris (25 March 180013 February 1881) was a French scholar and author. Life Paris was born at Avenay (Marne). He studied classics in Reims and law in Paris. He published in 1824 an ''Apologie pour l'école romantique'' (''In Def ...

* Claude-Emmanuel de Pastoret * Armand-Pierre Caussin de Perceval *

* Francois Pouqueville * Louis Racine * Charles-Frédéric Reinhard *

Jacques Nicolas Augustin Thierry Augustin Thierry (or ''Jacques Nicolas Augustin Thierry''; 10 May 179522 May 1856) was a French historian. Although originally a follower of Henri de Saint-Simon, he later developed his own approach to history. A committed liberal, his approach ...

Jacques de Tourreil Jacques de Tourreil (Toulouse, 18 November 1656 – Paris, 11 October 1714) was a French jurist, orator, translator and man of letters. Biography The author of translations of Demosthenes and essays on jurisprudence, Tourreil was elected to the ...

Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de l'Aulne ( ; ; 10 May 172718 March 1781), commonly known as Turgot, was a French economist and statesman. Originally considered a physiocrat, he is today best remembered as an early advocate for economic libe ...

* Joseph Vendryes * William Henry Waddington *

Charles Athanase Walckenaer Baron Charles Athanase Walckenaer (25 December 1771 – 28 April 1852) was a French civil servant and scientist. Biography Walckenaer was born in Paris and studied at the universities of Oxford and Glasgow. In 1793 he was appointed head of t ...

Henri-Alexandre Wallon Henri-Alexandre Wallon (23 December 1812 – 13 November 1904) was a French historian and statesman whose decisive contribution to the creation of the Third Republic led him to be called the "Father of the Republic". He was the grandfather of psy ...

Publications

Publications of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1710-1843)

References

External links

*
Notes on the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres from the Scholarly Societies project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Academie Des Inscriptions Et Belles-Lettres Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Latin epigraphy Greek epigraphy 1663 establishments in France *