Barthélemy, JEAN JACQUES, a learned French antiquary, born 20th January 1716, at Cassis, in Provence. Educated for the church, he early devoted himself entirely to the study of oriental antiquities, especially numismatics, but he retained the dress and title of an abbé. In 1745 he became attached to the Royal Cabinet of Medals, and in 1753 was appointed its director. Next year he visited Rome in the suite of M. de Stainville, the French ambassador, who, as Duc de Choiseul, became French minister in 1758, and soon after, by means of a liberal pension, placed Barthélemy 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 September 1793 he was imprisoned on charge of being an aristocrat, but 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 died April 30, 1795.
His most celebrated and popular work is the Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce dans le Milieu du quatrième Siècle avant l'Ere Chrétienne (4 vols. 1788), which shows an extensive 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 Barthélemy's other works may be mentioned Réflexion sur quelques Monuments Phéniciens (1750), and Réflexion sur l'Alphabet et la Langue de Palmyre (1754). The first complete edition of his works was that of Villenave (4 vols. 1821), with a biography.