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University of Nebraska – Lincoln
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska – Lincoln

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Anthropology, Department of

11-2011

Review of Fauvel. The First Archaeologist in Athens and
his Philhellenic Correspondents, by C. W. Clairmont

Effie Athanassopoulos
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, eathanassopoulos1@unl.edu

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Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Ancient,
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and Art History Commons

Athanassopoulos, Effie, “Review of Fauvel. The First Archaeologist in Athens and his Philhellenic Correspondents, by C. W. Clairmont”
(2011). Anthropology Faculty Publications. 60.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/anthropologyfacpub/60

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RECEPTION AND HISTORY OF SCHOLARSHIP

301

(incorrectly) non-tapering columns was published
repeatedly as was his detailed rendering of the
Erechtheion’s north door (the first, as Stuart and
Revett were denied access to it).

Another commendable feature of this book is
its thorough documentation which constitutes
nearly half the text. Besides the extensive notes
which quote the original language of all the
citations in the text, an appendix provides
transcriptions of all relevant documents ranging
from Hittorff’s report on the exhibit of Ittar’s
drawing in Paris in 1831 to dated receipts for
payments to the various artists. A catalogue of all
the Elgin drawings in the British Museum consti-
tutes a second appendix, while a third lists and
discusses the drawings topographically. This
documentation alone represents a gold-mine for
scholars interested in this important era when the
arts of ancient Greece were being recognized as
the true essence of the Classical style.

JENIFER NEILS
Case Western Reserve University
jxn4@case.edu

CLAIRMONT (C.W.) (V. von Gonzenbach Ed.)
Fauvel. The First Archaeologist in Athens
and his Philhellenic Correspondents. Zürich:
Akanthus, Verlag für Archäologie, 2007. Pp.
295, illus. €45. 9783905083256.
doi:10.1017/S0075426911001169

Clairmont’s book is a selection of letters addressed
to Louis-François-Sébastien Fauvel, the French
Consul and antiquarian, who lived in Athens from
1803 to 1822. Fauvel came to Greece for the first
time in 1780. He was sent to the Orient by Count
Choiseul-Gouffier in order to study, draw and
acquire antiquities for Choiseul’s collection. In
1784 Choiseul-Gouffier was
appointed
Ambassador
in Constantinople and Fauvel
continued his activities as a member of Choiseul’s
retinue until 1792. Subsequently, Fauvel held the
position of French Consul in Athens from 1802
until 1833. With the outbreak of the War of
Independence, Fauvel left Athens and moved to
Smyrna, where he lived until his death in 1839. In
Athens, Fauvel stayed at the Convent of the
Capuchins and, after 1804, at the French
Consulate, located near the gate of the Roman
Agora. In 1810 he built a new, elaborate house, in
the vicinity of the ancient Agora. His collection of
antiquities was displayed at this house, which was
depicted by Dupré in 1819. His residence,

considered as the first Athenian museum, became
a meeting place for European artists, architects,
archaeologists, historians, philologists and topog-
raphers. Fauvel provided hospitality and infor-
mation to many visitors from France, Britain,
Germany and Denmark, as his correspondence
attests.

The correspondence covers the period from
1786 to 1837 and is preserved in the Bibliothèque
Nationale in Paris. These letters are addressed to
Fauvel; very few are written by him. As the editor
explains, the letters selected for publication are of
intrinsic interest to archaeologists and classical
scholars. They form only a small part of ‘the vast
amount of Fauvel’s unpublished letters in the
Bibliothèque Nationale’. Earlier works, such as
Fauvel’s biography, published by Legrand in 1897,
included excerpts of Fauvel’s correspondence.
However, this is the first comprehensive publi-
cation dedicated to this important archival
material. The editorial work of Clairmont and von
Gonzenbach is excellent. The letters are presented
in chronological order and grouped by corre-
spondent; biographical information is provided for
each correspondent and extensive footnotes
identify the individuals, places and events
mentioned in each letter.

The first and lengthiest section is dedicated to
the letters of Choiseul-Gouffier. Another regular
correspondent was Louis Allier de Hauteroche,
who shared Fauvel’s interest in Greek coins. A
third was the geographer Barbié Du Bocage with
whom Fauvel corresponded on matters of ancient
topography. There are letters by well-known
figures, such as Edward Dodwell, Haller von
Hallerstein, O.M von Stackelberg, Charles
Cockerell, John Hobhouse and many others. They
wrote to Fauvel while travelling in Greece and in
later years from their home countries. Overall, the
letters discuss the interests, experiences, archaeo-
logical discoveries and adventures of the European
scholars. Some of the letters refer to well-known
events such as the excavation of the frieze of the
Temple of Apollo at Bassae. They also provide
information about political developments and the
rapidly changing situation in Greece with the
outbreak of the War of Independence in 1821. Of
particular interest here is the correspondence of
Georg Gropius. Gropius held the position of
Russian vice-consul and later Austrian consul. He
was a long-term resident of Athens and a close
friend of Fauvel. His 13 letters cover the period
from 1812−1837. After the departure of Fauvel
from Athens in 1822, Gropius looked after

302

REVIEWS OF BOOKS

Fauvel’s interests and updated him on the
unfolding events. For example, in 1825, Fauvel’s
house was destroyed by a bomb. In 1828 Gropius
dug in the ruins of the house and sent some of the
antiquities he recovered to Fauvel in Smyrna
(Letter 70). In 1826 Gropius discussed improve-
ments and changes taking place in Athens, while it
was controlled by the Temporary Government of
Greece (Letter 67). Equally important for the last
decade of Fauvel’s life is Pierre Gaspary’s corre-
spondence (nine letters, 1826−1836). Gaspary, as
agent consulaire, helped Fauvel with his affairs in
Athens. Like Gropius, he was an eyewitness to the
destruction of Athens during
the War of
Independence and to post-liberation plans for its
rebuilding.

Fauvel is an important figure in the history of
Greek archaeology. He dedicated his career to
archaeological and topographic research; he intro-
duced new methods, such as the use of casts and
relief-maps. Like many of his contemporaries he
engaged in the acquisition and sale of antiquities.
For Fauvel, however, these activities were not the
goal; rather, they provided the means to finance
excavations and continue his study of Classical
material culture.
He was knowledgeable,
respected, hospitable and a great resource for the
Europeans who visited Greece in the first two
decades of the 19th century. His correspondence
is a rich source for the study of this period.
Clairmont’s publication makes a significant
contribution to the fields of archaeology, classical
studies and modern Greek history. Hopefully, this
book will also inspire other scholars to delve into
the Fauvel archives which, in the words of
Clairmont, contain ‘a stupendous amount of infor-
mation’.

EFFIE ATHANASSOPOULOS
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
efa@unl.edu

SPENCER (P.) Ed. The Egypt Exploration
Society: the Early Years (EES Occasional
Publications 16). London: The Egypt
Exploration Society, 2007. Pp. ix + 262, illus.
£20. 9780856981852 (pbk).
doi:10.1017/S0075426911001170

‘Inevitably subsequent research has moved out of
these beginnings, and points of emphasis have
sometimes had to change, but the tradition of
meticulous excavation and recording established
by pioneers such as Petrie, Griffith, Carter,

Grenfell and Hunt who feature in this volume set a
superb example and will continue to inform the
work of the Society in the years to come’. So says
A. Lloyd in his ‘Foreword’ to this book, a
celebratory volume marking the 125th anniversary
of the Egypt Exploration Society and intended as
a companion volume to the history of the Society,
edited by T.G.H. James, published to commem-
orate the society’s centenary in 1982.

The present volume is mainly an album of site
photographs and paintings from the early years of
the Society’s excavations in Egypt, and appears
intended to supplement that volume. After a
useful map of the Society’s excavations in Egypt
(viii), the volume is separated into eight chapters
arranged by site of excavation and/or principal
individually edited by different
excavators,
contributors. Each of these comprises a page
summary, followed by a series of excavation
photographs, drawings or paintings, with brief
commentary of a few sentences generally on the
facing page. Chapter 1, by N. Spencer, follows
excavations by Naville (with 20 black-and-white
photographs); chapter 2, by P. Spencer, looks at
Petrie in the Nile Delta (25 black-and-white
photographs); chapter 3, by C. Naunton, covers the
Archaeological Survey of Egypt carried out from
1890 (20 images, including images of contem-
porary watercolour renditions of tomb paintings
by Howard Carter, Marcus Blackman and Percy
Buckman); chapter 4, by T.G.H. James, covers
Deir el-Bahari (21 images, including two water-
colours by Howard Carter); chapter 5, by B.
Kemp, covers Abydos (20 black-and-white photo-
graphs); chapter 6, by J. Rowland, covers El-
Amrah, el-Mahasna, Hu and Abadiyeh (19 black-
and-white photographs); chapter 7, by D.
Rathbone, covers the excavations in Oxyrhynchus
and in the Fayum by Grenfell and Hunt (20 black-
and-white photographs, including three images of
papyri
they excavated); chapter 8, by A.
Bednarski, covers Deshasheh, Dendereh and
Balabish (21 black-and-white photographs of sites
and finds).

The volume is something of a curiosity. The
above quotation from Lloyd’s ‘Foreword’ provides
the only real clue to its rationale, and there is little
by way of further detail on how the book has been
designed, what function it is to have, how the
images have been chosen and with what rationale.
One has to await the page summaries at the start of
each section for an overview of the individual
excavation periods and excavators, but there is
nothing in any of these to inform us about the