BARTHELEMY, JEAN JACQUES, a historian and antiquary, b. 20th Jan., 1716, at Cassis, near Aubagne, in Provence. lie was educated under the Jesuits for the church, but soon abandoned all thought of becoming a priest, and devoted himself to the study of the Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and Chaldee languages, though he retained the dress and title of an abbe. He first acquired distinction by the discovery of the Palmyran alphabet. 1111745, he was appointed assistant-superintendent of the royal cabinet of medals, and in 1747 elected a member of the Aectdemie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres. To com plete his studies, he visited Home in 1754, in the suite of M. de Stainville, afterWards duke of Choiseul, and then French ambassador, where he was courteously received by pope Benedict XIV. After his return, he was again employed in the arrangement of the royal cabinet of medals, which he augmented bya great number of costly specimens. The due de Choiseul, who became minister in 1758, placed him, by means of a pension and other favors, in a position to devote himself entirely to learned researches, which he quietly pursued till the revolution of 1789 deprived him of his offices. In Sept., 1793,
he was imprisoned on charge of being au aristocrat, bat almost immediately released. Shortly after, he was offered the situation of national librarian, then vacant, but his age and infirmities compelled him to decline it. He d. April 30, 1795.
His most celebrated and popular work is the Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grece dans le Milieu net quatrieme Sieele arant l'ere Ghretienne, Paris, 1788, 4 vols. (Travels of the Young Anacharsis in Greece the Middle of the Fourth Century n.c.). The work (see''ANACIIAltSIS) is a very- pleasing and agreeable performance; exhibits an exten sive knowledge of the ancient world, especially of Greece and its colonies; and. abounds in observations which, if not profound, are at least judicious. Later and more severe criticism has, however, pointed out many deficiencies and anachronisms. It has been translated into almost every European language. Among Barthelemy's other works may be mentioned a romance, entitled Caryte at Polydore (Paris, 1760); Explication de la Mosaique de Palestrine (Paris, 1760); _Ile:flexions stir l'Alphabet et la Langue de Palmyre (Paris, 1754).