Charles de Brosses (French:[dəbʁɔs]),comte de Tournay, baron de Montfalcon, seigneur de Vezins et de Prevessin (7 February 1709 – 7 May 1777), was a French scholar of the 18th century.
Lettres sur l'état actuel de la ville souterraine d'Herculée et sur les causes de son ensevelissement sous les ruines du Vésuve (1750). This contains a list of archeological discoveries from the excavation ofHerculaneum, including some ancient inscriptions in theOscan language.
Histoire des navigations aux terres australes, contenant ce que l'on sait des moeurs et des productions des contrées découvertes jusqu'à ce jour (1756). This offers a complete digest of all known voyages to the Southern seas, preceded by a long plea for an exploration campaign in these waters, in order to discover and exploit the vast Austral continent which could not fail to be there, for mechanical reasons. It proved extremely useful toJames Cook with respect to the discovery of Australia in 1770, and contains what may be the first occurrence of the words "Polynésie" (Polynesia) and "Australasie" (Australasia). It has been written that it is this book which convinced the French explorerLouis-Antoine de Bougainville, then a soldier in Canada, to become a sailor and, in his own terms, "do something great".
Histoire de la République romaine, dans le cours du VIIe siècle, par Salluste, en partie traduite du latin sur l'original, en partie rétablie et composée sur les fragmens qui sont restés de ses livres perdus (1777). This is a French translation ofSallust'sHistoria, partially restored with the help of ancient fragments, and illustrated with topographical maps and archaeological founds.
De Brosses is also remembered for his posthumously published letters:
The first English translation ofDu culte des dieux fétiches will be published inThe Returns of Fetishism: Charles De Brosses and the Afterlives of an Idea in June 2017.[2]
Charles de Brosses,Du culte des Dieux Fétiches,ou Parallèle de l'ancienne Religion de l'Égypte avec la Religion actuelle de Nigritie, 1760 (Introduction, pp. 5–17).
