J.-J. (Jean-Jacques) Barthélemy

Born in Cassis, France, on January 20, 1716, Jean-Jacques Barthélemy became a Catholic cleric, scholar, archaeologist, and numismatist whose curiosity reached far beyond the pulpit. After studying theology, he moved into the world of ancient languages, coins, and inscriptions, building a reputation as a careful and gifted interpreter of the past.

He is especially remembered for deciphering the Palmyrene alphabet in 1754 and the Phoenician alphabet in 1758, a major achievement in the study of ancient scripts. Barthélemy also worked closely with collections of medals and antiquities in Paris, and his scholarship made him a respected figure in French learned circles.

For many readers, though, his lasting fame came from Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce, published in 1788. Framed as a journey through ancient Greece, the book blended deep research with an inviting narrative style and became enormously popular, helping generations of readers imagine the classical world as a lived, human place rather than a distant set of dates and ruins.