Jacob Spon

Jacob Spon(or Jacques; in English dictionaries given as James; 1647 – 25 December 1685) was a French doctor andarchaeologist.He was a pioneer in the exploration of the monuments of Greece, and a scholar of international reputation in the developing "Republic of Letters".

Jacob Spon
Jacob Spon
Born	Jacques Spon 1647 Lyon,France
Died	25 December 1685(1685-12-25)(aged 37–38) Vevey,Switzerland
Nationality	French
Occupation(s)	Doctor of Medicineandarchaeologist
Known for	Pioneer in the exploration of the monuments of Greece and a scholar of international reputation in the developing "Republic of Letters"

Biography

Jacob Spon was born in 1647 inLyon.His father was Charles Spon, a doctor andHellenist,of a wealthy and culturedCalvinistbanking family fromUlmthat had been established since 1551 at Lyon, where they were members of the bourgeois élite. Following medical studies atStrasbourg,the younger Spon first met the son of a friend of his father,Charles Patin,who introduced him toantiquarianinterests and the study ofnumismatics,then as now a window into the world ofClassical Antiquity.In Paris, Jacob Spon lodged with Patin's father, Guy Patin. AtMontpellierhe received his doctorate in medicine (1668) and subsequently practiced in Lyon to a wealthy clientele. There his first publication appeared, aRecherche des antiquités et curiosités de la ville de Lyonand he entered into correspondence with a wider circle ofsavants:the abbéClaude Nicaiseat Dijon,du Cangeat Paris, the erudite circles that gravitated tole Grand Dauphinand theduc d'Aumont.Among his correspondents were the courtier-theologianJacques-Bénigne Bossuet,the philosopherPierre Bayle,Pierre Carcavy,the Jesuit scholarFrançois d'Aix de la Chaise,confessor to the King, andFrançois Charpentier.He metJean Mabillonwhen Mabillon passed through Lyon in 1682.

1683 edition ofRecherches curieuses d'antiquité

Spon traveled toItaly,and then toGreece,toConstantinopleand theLevantin 1675–1676 in the company of the English connoisseur and botanistSir George Wheler(1650–1723), whose collection of antiquities was afterwards bequeathed toOxford University.They were among the first knowledgeable Western European antiquaries to see the antiquities of Greece at first hand. Spon'sVoyage d'Italie, de Dalmatie, de Grèce et du Levant(1678) remained a useful reference work even in the time ofChateaubriand,who employed it on his trip to the East.

Spon brought back many valuable treasures, coins, inscriptions and manuscripts.In January 1680, he quarrelled withPère de La Chaise,who pressed him to convert toCatholicism.That year Spon published hisHistoire de la république de Genève,followed by hisRécherches curieuses d'antiquité(Lyon 1683) and in 1685 a collection of transcriptions of Roman inscriptions gleaned over the years,Miscellanea eruditae antiquitatis,in the preface to which he offered one of the earliest definitions of"archaeologia"to describe the study of antiquities in which he was engaged.

In 1681 Spon published a brief (95pp.) treatise on fevers, which, being well-received, he expanded to 264 pp. to include the latest remedies, including "Quinquina" from "Perou," which he considers especially effective, but which, he says, the "Ameriquains" did not recognize: "le quinquina n'etoit pas connu pour la guerison des fievres par les Ameriquains meme...". "Observations sur les Fievres et les Febrifuges" was published by Thomas Amaulry at Lyon in 1684 and posthumously in 1687. Spon points out that he is an expert on fevers because Lyon includes a swampy area (the Dombes) that produces "mauvais air" responsible for fevers—probably actually malaria. As Spon's book illustrates, in the 17th century a whole range of diseases were classified as different "fevers." In its time, "Observations sur les Fievres" was a learned, technical manual for a physician who wanted to be current.

TheRevocation of the Edict of Nantes,October 1685, was indirectly the cause of Spon's death. Rather than abjure his Calvinist faith, he preferred to leave forZürich,an illegal move. His money and baggage were stolen from him, and in fragile health, he died oftuberculosisin the canton hospital at Vevey, Christmas Day 1685, at the age of 38.

Works

• Histoire de la ville et de l'Estat de Genève,Lyon, 1620,ibid.,Amaulry, 1680, 1682, Utrecht: Halma, 1685
• The history of the city and state of Geneva,London: White, 1687
• Historie van de Stad en Staat van Geneve,Amsterdam: Oossaan, 1688
• Histoire de Genève rectifiée et augmentée,Genève: Fabri et Barrillot, 1730
• De l'origine des estrenes,[Lyon], 1673, Paris: Didot et de Bure, 1781
• Recherche des antiquités et curiosités de la ville de Lyon,Lyon, 1673
• Relation de l'état présent de la ville d'Athènes,Lyon, 1674
• Réponse à la critique publiée par M. de Guillet sur le Voyage de Grèce,Lyon, 1679
• Ignotorum atque obscurorum quorundam deorum arae,Lugduni: Faeton, 1676
• Voyage d'Italie, de Dalmatie, de Grèce et du Levant,Lyon: Cellier, 1678, Amsterdam: Boom, 1679
• Viaggi per la Dalmazia, Grecia, e Levante,Bologna: Monti, 1688
• Italiänische, Dalmatische, Griechische und Orientalische Reise-Beschreibung,Nürnberg: Hofmann, 1690, 1713
• Lettres sur l'antiquité de la véritable religion,Lausanne: [Gentil?], 1681
• Lettres curieuses touchant la religion,Cologne, 1682
• Recherches curieuses d'antiquité,Lyon: Amaulry, 1683
• Miscellanea eruditae antiquitatis,Lugduni: [l'auteur], 1685
• Observations sur les fievres et les febrifuges,Lyon: Amaulry, 1684, 1687
• Novi tractatus de potu caphé, de Chinensium thé et de chocolata,Genavæ: Cramer et Perachon, 1699

References

• "The Landscape of Antiquity"Archived2015-09-23 at theWayback Machine