Thierry Bianquis (3 August 1935 – 2 September 2014) was a FrenchOrientalist andArabist. His main interest was the medieval Islamic Middle East, most notably theFatimid era ofEgypt andSyria, which was the subject of his dissertation.
Born inBroummana,Lebanon, in 1935, he spent his childhood in the country before coming to France for his higher education. He was a resident of theInstitut Français d'Etudes Arabes de Damas atDamascus in 1967–1975, and served as its director in 1975–1981, as well as a member of theInstitut Français d'Archéologie Orientale atCairo in 1971–1975. In 1991, he was elected professor of Islamic history and civilisation atUniversité Lumière Lyon 2. Alongside his own voluminous publications, he served as an editor of the second edition of theEncyclopaedia of Islam, and was one of the main authors ofThe Cambridge history of Egypt: Islamic Egypt (641-1517).
