Jean Terrasson (31 January 1670 – 15 September 1750), often referred to as the Abbé Terrasson, was a French priest, author and member of the Académie française. The erudite Antoine Terrasson was his nephew.

Life

Jean Terrasson, born in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

, was elected a member of the Académie française in 1707. His 1715 ''Dissertation on Homer's Iliad'' took the side of the 'moderns' in the

quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns The quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns (french: link=no, querelle des Anciens et des Modernes) began overtly as a literary and artistic debate that heated up in the early 17th century and shook the ''Académie Française''. Origins of the ...

. In 1721 he became Professor of Greek at the

College de France A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

. His best-known work is probably the

fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fa ...

'' Life of Sethos, Taken from Private Memoirs of the Ancient Egyptians'' (1731). This fiction elided

Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and ancient Egyptian ritual, and served as an inspiration for Mozart and Schikaneder's ''

Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a '' Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inc ...

''.

Works

*1715: ''Dissertation critique sur l'Iliade de Homère''. **1716: Translated into English by Francis Brerewood as ''A critical dissertation upon Homer's Iliad''. **1716: Preface translated into English by Francis Brerewood as ''A discourse of ancient and modern learning'', 1716 *1720: ''Lettres sur le nouveau systême des finances''. *1731: ''Sethos: histoire ou vie, tirée des monumens anecdotes de l'ancienne Egypte, traduite d'un manuscrit grec''. Translated into English by

Thomas Lediard Thomas Lediard (1685–1743) was an English writer and surveyor. Life In early life, by his own account, he was attached to the staff of the Duke of Marlborough, particularly in 1707, on the occasion of the Duke's visit to Charles XII of Sweden ...

as ''The life of Sethos: Taken from private memoirs of the ancient Egyptians'' *1754: ''La philosophie applicable à tous les objets de l'esprit et de la raison ouvrage en réflexions détachées''.

Commentary on Terrasson

Antoin E. Murphy writes in ''The Genesis of Macroeconomics'' (2008):

Given the fortune that Terrasson was making in the
Mississippi Company The Mississippi Company (french: Compagnie du Mississippi; founded 1684, named the Company of the West from 1717, and the Company of the Indies from 1719) was a corporation holding a business monopoly in French colonies in North America and th ...
, was it not natural to find him defending its operations in the pamphlets that he wrote. ...Furthermore, given Terrasson and Turgot's clerical connections—they were both ''abbés'' at this time...— ...Turgot was in no doubt about attributing them to Terrasson. Paul Harsin did not accept this... 'There is no doubt... with respect to Law's paternity of he letters. The abbé Terrasson has also been credited with being the author of...''Mémoire pour servir à justifier la Campagnie des Indes contre la censure de casuistes qui la condamnent'' (1720), which is also about Law's system. ...I agree with Harsin that Law either wrote or directed the writing of the letters. ...he may have used Terrasson as an intermediary for pushing his own ideas into the public arena.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Terrasson, Jean 1670 births Clergy from Lyon 1750 deaths 18th-century French writers 18th-century French male writers 18th-century French novelists Members of the Académie Française Members of the French Academy of Sciences Writers from Lyon 18th-century French Roman Catholic priests