Alfred Merlin (13 March 1876, in

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...

) was a 20th-century French historian, archaeologist, pioneer and founder of underwater archaeology, a

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist, researcher, and/or well-informed collector of numismatics, numismatics/coins ("of coins"; from Late Latin , genitive of ). Numismatists can include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholar-researchers who use coi ...

and epigrapher.

Biography

After his studies at 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 ...

, he obtained the agrégation in history and geography in 1900 then left to the École française de Rome (1901–1903). He then held the position of director of the Antiquities Service in Tunisia between 1906 and 1920, where he was one of the pioneers of the exploration of the archaeological site of Dougga, between 1901 and 1902. In 1907 he was alerted by Greek sponge fishermen cruising between

Sousse Sousse, Sūsah , or Soussa (, ), is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which ...

and Sfax on the existence of a cluster of columns mixed with debris of all kinds lying forty meters deep. Merlin then enlisted local maritime authorities and financial support to launch the first campaign of underwater archaeological excavation on the Mahdia shipwreck. He thus brought to the surface some Athenian art objects dating back to the first century B.C., including the famous Hermes bronze

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

, signed by the sculptor Boethus. Campaigns on the wreck by Merlon followed each other until 1913. He then became curator and chief curator 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 ...

Museum from 1921 to 1946. In 1928 he was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, of which he was permanent secretary until 1964. Alfred Merlin was the son in law of historian René Cagnat; his wife Renée died 2 March 1965 aged 89.

Publications

The vast majority of works by Alfred Merlin consists of communications made to the Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques : * ''L'Aventin dans l'Antiquité'', BEFR, fasc. 97, 1906 ; * '' L'Année épigraphique'' (director).

References

Sources and bibliography

* Pierre Boyancé, "Nécrologie : Alfred Merlin (1876-1965)", ''Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire'', vol. 77, N° 77-2, 1965, (p. 641–642)
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* Georges Tessier, "Notice sur la vie et les travaux de M. Alfred Merlin, Secrétaire perpétuel honoraire de l'Académie", ''CRAI'', vol. 109, N° 2, 1965, (p. 482–494)
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External links

Biographie d'Alfred Merlin
on Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques {{DEFAULTSORT:Merlin, Alfred 20th-century French historians French archaeologists French numismatists French epigraphers People associated with the Louvre Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres École Normale Supérieure alumni Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni 1876 births People from Orléans 1965 deaths