LUCAS, PAUL, born at Rouen in 1664, first travelled in the Levant as a jeweller, after which ho entered the Venetian service against the Turks. In 1696 he returned to France, bringing with him a collection of ancient coins, engraved stones, and other curiosities, which were purchased for the king's cabinet of medals. In 1699 he went to Egypt, and ascended the Nile as far as the cataracts. He afterwards visited Cyprus, Syria, Armenia, and Persia, but was at last plundered at Baghdad of most of the objects of curiosity which he had collected in his journey. He returned to Paris in 1703, and published the narra• Live of his journey, Voyage an Levant; 1704, which contains numerous exaggerations end absurd stories. Lucas was not deficient in observatiou, but he did not always tell the truth ; perhaps he thought that a dash of the marvellous would enhance his narrative, or perhaps he listened credulously to the stories of others. In 1705 he was sent by Louis XIV. to the Levant again, for the purpose of mating collections; and he visited Asia Minor, Macedonia, Syria, and Barbary, and returned to France in 1708. He published the narrative
of this second journey in 1710—' Voyage dans la Greco, l'Aeie Mineure, Is Macedoine, et l'Afrique.' This work contains some interesting memoirs by other travellers concerning Cyrenaica and Tunis. Louis XIV. sent him out again in 1714, when he visited most of the same countries which he had seen in the preceding journey, for the purpose of correcting his former observations. He returned to Paris in 1717, and in 1719 published an account of his third journey (' Voyage dans Is Turquie, l'Asie, Syria, Palestine, Egypte, &e.'), which is the best of the three, though it also contains some strange stories. Lucas travelled once more in the Levant, and at last died in Spain in 1737, having gone thither for the purpose of examining the antiquities of that country.