Pierre Chuvin (18 July 1943 – 26 December 2016) was a French

hellenist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, ...

and historian. He specialized in

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

and

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, as well as modern Central Asia and the Turkic-speaking world.

Biography

He studied at the Université de Clermont-Ferrand under Francis Vian and the

École nationale des langues orientales vivantes Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (; ), abbreviated as INALCO, is a French Grand Etablissement with a specializing in the teaching of languages and cultures from the world. Its coverage spans languages of Central Europ ...

, where he learned modern Greek and Turkish, and did an ''

agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...

'' on classical literature. In 1983 he presented his doctoral thesis on the ancient Greek epic ''

Dionysiaca The ''Dionysiaca'' (, ''Dionysiaká'') is an ancient Greek epic poem and the principal work of Nonnus. It is an epic in 48 books, the longest surviving poem from Greco-Roman antiquity at 20,426 lines, composed in Homeric dialect and dactylic hex ...

'' by

Nonnus Nonnus of Panopolis (, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century AD) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebaid and probably lived in the 5th century AD. He i ...

. He was a professor at the

Blaise Pascal University Blaise Pascal University (), also known as Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand II, was a public university with its main campus in Clermont-Ferrand, France, with satellite locations in other parts of the region of Auvergne, including Vi ...

until 1998 and after that at the

Paris Nanterre University Paris Nanterre University (), formerly University of Paris West, Paris-X and commonly referred to as Nanterre, is a public research university based in Nanterre, Hauts-de-Seine, France, in the Paris metropolitan area. It is one of the most pres ...

. He created and led the Institut français d'études sur l'Asie centrale in

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

, Uzbekistan, and founded the journal '' Les Cahiers de l'Asie centrale''. From 2003 to 2008 he was the director of the Institut français d'études anatoliennes in Istanbul. He wrote more than 70 articles for the magazine ''

L'Histoire ''L'Histoire'' is a monthly mainstream French magazine dedicated to historical studies, recognized by peers as the most important historical popular magazine (as opposed to specific university journals or less scientific popular historical magaz ...

''.

Legacy

In April 2020, the American band

the Mountain Goats The Mountain Goats are a United States band formed in Claremont, California, Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole me ...

released an album entitled ''

Songs for Pierre Chuvin ''Songs for Pierre Chuvin'' is the eighteenth studio album by the Mountain Goats, released on April 10, 2020. It is the first album since 2002's ''All Hail West Texas'' to feature only the band's frontman, John Darnielle, as well as the first sinc ...

'', inspired by Chuvin's 1990 book ''A Chronicle of the Last Pagans''.

Selected publications

*''Mythologie et géographie dionysiaques : recherches sur l'œuvre de Nonnos de Panopolis'', Clermont-Ferrand, Adosa, 1992 (''doctorat d'État'' thesis). Prix Saintour de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, 1994. *''L'Islam au péril des femmes. Une Anglaise en Turquie au XVIIIe siècle (lettres de Lady Montagu''), translation and presentation with Anne-Marie Moulin, Maspéro/La Découverte, 1981. *''Chronique des derniers païens. La disparition du paganisme dans l'Empire romain, du règne de Constantin à celui de Justinien'', éd. Les Belles Lettres, 1990 *''Mythologie grecque. Du premier homme à l'apothéose d'Héraclès'', éd. Fayard, 1992. Prix François Millepierres de l'Académie française, 1993. *''L'Asie centrale. L'indépendance, le pétrole et l'islam'', with Pierre Gentelle, ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' éditions / Marabout, 1998 *''Les Arts de l’Asie centrale'', éd. Citadelles-Mazenod, 1999 (editor) *''Samarcande Boukhara Khiva'', éd., Flammarion, 2001, with photographs by Gérard Degeorge. *''Turquie'', éd. Larousse, 2003 (collaboration) *''Des Géants à Dionysos. Mélanges de religion et poésie grecques en l'honneur du professeur Francis Vian'', 2003 *''Pitres et pantins. Transformations du masque comique : de l'Antiquité au théâtre d'ombres'', co-edited with Sophie Basch, PUPS, 2007. *''Histoire de l'Asie centrale contemporaine'', with René Létolle and Sébastien Peyrouse, Fayard, 2008. *''L'Orientalisme, les orientalistes et l'Empire ottoman, de la fin du XVIIe siècle à la fin du XXe siècle'', co-edited with Sophie Basch, Nora Sens, Michel Espagne and

Jean Leclant Jean Leclant (8 August 1920 – 16 September 2011) was a French 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 Se ...

, Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres/De Boccard, 2011.

English editions

*'' A Chronicle of the Last Pagans'', Harvard University Press, 1990. *''Samarkand, Bukara, Khiva'', Thames & Hudson, 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chuvin, Pierre 1943 births 2016 deaths French hellenists Scholars of Greek mythology and religion French orientalists 20th-century French historians 21st-century French historians Academic staff of Blaise Pascal University People from Allier