Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin

Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin (17 January 1791 – 17 July 1832) was a French academic, orientalist, and pioneer in the field of what would be known as Armenian Studies

Biography

Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin was born in Paris on 17 January 1791, the son of a tradesman. Intending to enter commerce, he attended the Collège des Quatre-Nations. There he learned Arabic, Armenian, Persian, Syriac and Turkish, plus the basics of several other languages such as Zend and Georgian. By the age of 20 he had already acquired a solid theory and spoken fluency in Armenian and Arabic.

On 2 September 1820 he was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, part of the Institut de France.

He later entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1822 he was one of the founders of the Société Asiatique, and directed the publication of its journal, the Journal Asiatique. In 1824 he was appointed director of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal.

He was responsible for inducing the French government to send the researcher Friedrich Eduard Schulz to the Lake Van region of Armenia in 1827, and in 1828 published Schulz's first report on the remains of the hitherto unknown Urartian civilization.

Saint-Martin died of cholera in Paris on 17 July 1832 during the second pandemic.

Works

• (1818) Mémoires historiques et géographiques sur l'Arménie, 2 vols., Imprimerie royale, Paris.
  • Online: Tome 1, p. PR3, at Google Books, Tome 2, p. PP7, at Google Books
  • Reprint: Nabu Press, 2011.
• (1822) Notice sur le zodiaque de Denderah, p. PA3, at Google Books, Delaunay, 51 p.
• (1822) « Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de M. Tôchon, p. PR1, at Google Books ». In: Joseph-François Tôchon, Recherches historiques et géographiques sur les médailles des nomes ou préfectures de l'Égypte, Imprimerie royale, 256 p.
• (1825) Choix de fables de Vartan at Google Books, Paris, Librairie orientale de Dondey-Dupré père et fils; Armenian text, French translation by Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin (Armenian) (French)
• (1827) Relation d'un voyage fait en Europe et dans l'Océan Atlantique, à la fin du XV siècle sous le règne de Charles VIII, par Martyr, évêque d'Arzendjan, translation and introduction by J. Saint-Martin
• (1833) (With Marie-Félicité Brosset) Mémoire sur l'Arménie, 495 p.
• (1838) Recherches sur l'histoire et la géographie de la Mésène et de la Characène at Google Books, Paris, Imprimerie royale
• (1841) Histoire d'Arménie, par le patriarche Jean VI, dit Jean Catholicos (trad.), Paris, Imprimerie royale
• (1850) Fragments d'une histoire des Arsacides, Paris, Imprimerie nationale—Published posthumously by Félix Lajard
  • Tome 1 ; Tome 2 from Gallica.