Simone Follet (23 January 1935 – 16 February 2021) was a French

epigrapher 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 wr ...

and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

, specialising in

Roman Greece Greece in the Roman era describes the Roman conquest of Greece, as well as the period of Greek history when Greece was dominated first by the Roman Republic and then by the Roman Empire. The Roman era of Greek history began with the Corinthia ...

, especially

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

Life

Follet attended

lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

Mâcon Mâcon (), historically anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home to near 34,000 residents, who are referred to in French as ...

and at

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, ...

. In 1955, she enrolled in the

École normale supérieure de jeunes filles The ''École normale supérieure de jeunes filles'' (also, ''École normale supérieure de Sèvres'') was a French institute of higher education, in Sèvres, now a commune in the suburbs of Paris. The school educated girls only, especially as tea ...

Sèvres Sèvres (, ) is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Île-de-France region. The commune, which had a population of 23,251 as of 2018, is known for ...

, studying literature. After her graduation in 1958, Follet worked at the

University of Clermont-Ferrand The University of Clermont-Ferrand was officially founded in 1896, by merging of two existing faculties (Literature and Sciences) and a medical school. In 1976, due to political issues, the University split between University Clermont-Ferrand I - ...

until 1961, when she returned to the École normale supérieure to study

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

and literature. In 1975, Follet became the adjunct director of the École normale supérieure, a post which she retained until 1987. From 1981 to 1985, she was also the director of a

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

project called "Etude de textes sophistiques et techniques tardifs" (Study of Sophistic Texts and Late Techniques), based at the École normale supérieure. In this role, she was noted for her mentorship of younger female scholars of Classical philology. She was then a professor at

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Nanterre Nanterre (, ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, bordering ...

, and

Paris-Sorbonne Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; french: Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV) was a public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the Univ ...

. After her retirement in 2000, she remained an emirita professor of the Sorbonne. She was elected President of the French (Association for Hellenic Studies) for 2001.

Research

Follet's research focussed on the epigraphy of Roman Imperial Athens. Her 1976 book ''Athènes au II^e et au III^e siècle. Études chronologiques et prosopographiques'' (Athens in the 2nd and 3rd centuries: Chronological and Prosopographic Studies), developed from her doctoral thesis, remains the standard work on the chronology of Imperial-period Athens. Follet produced numerous articles and book chapters on individual inscriptions or groups of inscriptions, often in collaboration with Dina Peppas Delmousou of the

Epigraphical Museum The Epigraphical Museum ( el, Επιγραφικόν μουσείον) of Athens, Greece, is unique in Greece and the largest of its kind in the world. Its collection comprises 14,078, mostly Greek, inscriptions, which cover the period from earl ...

. She was also a regular contributor to the ''Bulletin épigraphique'' in ' and ''

L'Année épigraphique ''L'Année épigraphique'' (''The Epigraphic Year'', standard abbreviation ''AE'') is a French publication on epigraphy (i.e the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing). It was set up by René Cagnat, as holder of the chair of 'Epigraphy an ...

''. Follet also worked on imperial-period Greek literature and philosophy, especially the second Sophistic author

Philostratus Philostratus or Lucius Flavius Philostratus (; grc-gre, Φιλόστρατος ; c. 170 – 247/250 AD), called "the Athenian", was a Greek sophist of the Roman imperial period. His father was a minor sophist of the same name. He was born prob ...

, publishing the standard French edition of his ''Heroicus'' in 2017 and collaborating with Bernadette Peuch on a standard edition of his ''Lives of the Sophists'', which will be published posthumously. She also contributed to work on a standard edition of Callistratus's ''Descriptions'' and provided entries for the ''Dictionnaire des Philosophes Antiques''. =

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Follet, Simone 1935 births 2021 deaths French epigraphers French hellenists École Normale Supérieure alumni Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure Academic staff of the University of Caen Normandy Academic staff of Paris Nanterre University Academic staff of Paris-Sorbonne University