BARTHLEMY, JEAN-JACQUES

born Jan. 20, 1716, Cassis, France died April 30, 1795, Paris archaeologist and author whose novel about ancient Greece was one of the most widely read books in 19th-century France. Barthlemy studied theology with the Jesuits and became an abb, but, feeling that he lacked a religious vocation, he went to Paris, where he became interested in Greek and Roman antiquities. In 1744 he became assistant to the keeper of the royal collection of medals, whom he succeeded in 1753. In 1755 he accompanied the French ambassador, the Count de Stainville (later the Duke de Choiseul) to Italy, where he spent three years in archaeological research. Barthlemy wrote several technical works on archaeology, but his fame rests on the novel Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grce, dans le milieu du quatrime sicle avant l're vulgaire (1788; Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece), a rambling account by an aged Scythian of a journey through Greece that he had taken as a young man for the sake of his education. Into this book, set in the 4th century BC, Barthlemy poured the fruit of a lifetime's scholarship and research, using his wealth of learning to describe the laws, government, religion, philosophy, art, and antiquities of ancient Greece. This well-documented introduction to Hellenic culture rekindled interest in Greece and provided suitable reading for generations of French schoolchildren. Barthlemy's merits as a writer and scholar were recognized by his election to the French Academy in 1789.