Gilbert Picard, called Gilbert Charles-Picard, (15 October 1913 – 21 December 1998) was a 20th-century French

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

, a specialist of

North Africa during Antiquity The history of North Africa during the period of classical antiquity (c. 8th century BCE – 5th century CE) can be divided roughly into the history of Egypt in the east, the history of ancient Libya in the middle and the history of Numidia and M ...

. The son of Hellenist Charles Picard (1883–1965), he was born at Nercillac. He was married to Colette Picard, also an historian of antiquity and curator of the site of

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

, and was the father of Olivier Picard, also an Hellenist, former director of the French School at Athens and a member of the

Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . 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 institute manages approximately ...

. He began his career in Algeria where he explored several sites, and also sojourned in Rome and Carthage. His sister, the philosopher Yvonne Picard, was a member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

and died at Birkenau prison camp in 1943. Gilbert Charles-Picard won the Prix Broquette-Gonin awarded by the Académie française in 1960 for his work ''La Civilisation de l'Afrique romaine''. He died in Versailles in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, aged 85.

References

External links

Gilbert Picard
on Cths
Gilbert Charles-Picard
on the site of the Académie française
Obituary
on Persée {{DEFAULTSORT:Charles-Picard, Gilbert 20th-century French historians Classical archaeologists Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Winners of the Prix Broquette-Gonin (literature) Officers of the Legion of Honour People from Charente 1913 births 1998 deaths 20th-century French archaeologists Archaeologists of the Punic world