Bon Joseph Dacier (Valognes, 1 April 1742 – Paris, 4 February 1833) was a French historian, philologist and translator of ancient Greek. He became aChevalier de l'Empire[1][2] (16 December 1813), thenBaron de l'Empire (29 May 1830[3]). He also served as curator of theBibliothèque nationale.
After studying at thecollège d'Harcourt, he became the student and assistant ofÉtienne Lauréault de Foncemagne. Dacier came to public notice in 1772 via his translation of theHistories ofClaudius Aelianus and the same year became an associate member of theAcadémie des inscriptions, becoming its president and permanent secretary in 1782. In that position, he wrote the organisation's history from 1784 to 1830. He translated theCyropaedia byXenophon (1777). He became a member of Paris's corps municipal in 1790 and led the imposition of the new system ofcontributions directes, but refusedLouis XVI's offer of the post of finance minister. After retiring toSeine-et-Oise during theFrench Revolution, he became a member of theTribunat in 1799. In 1800 he was made curator of manuscripts at theBibliothèque nationale and elected to theAcadémie des Sciences morales et politiques.
It was to Dacier thatChampollion sent hisfamous 1822 letter, known widely asLettre à M. Dacier, revealing his discovery of how todecipherEgyptian hieroglyphs. At age 80, Dacier was elected to theAcadémie française in 1822; at the time he was the oldest member of the society. He was made a baron on 26 May 1830.Pierre-François Tissot, his successor in the Académie, said of him that "he had the sanest ideas on scholarship, and he unceasingly tended to give it a useful and philosophical direction. "Don't look for gold mines" he said to his brother-academicians and especially to their young emulators. [ ... ] Nothing could be more dangerous than his elogies; they were believed like an epigram byLebrun. On the other hand, he liked to support the development of talent; after having the good luck of having found something, his greatest pleasure was to bring it to public light."[4] Biographic notice n° 124, devoted to him on page 118 ofLe premier siècle de l'Institut de France (1895), gives his name as "DACIER (Le Baron Bon, Joseph)". He is buried in thecimetière du Père-Lachaise (29th Division, 4th line, S, 33).
Journals edited by Bon Joseph Dacier included theJournal des sçavans, and he also wrote on the history of theOrder of Saint Lazarus (of which he was a member). He also wrote several historical articles.
Media related toBon-Joseph Dacier at Wikimedia Commons
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| Preceded by | Administrateur général of theBibliothèque nationale | Succeeded by |
