Martha, Jules

Date born: 1853

Place born: Strasbourg, France

Date died: 1932

Place died: Paris, France

Sorbonne art historian of Etruscan art. Trained as a scholar of Latin, Martha was a member of the so-called French School at Athens in 1876. In 1880 he published the collection of the terracotta figures of the Archaeological Society of Athens. His dissertation, on Athenian priests, was written in 1882. Although engaged as a Latin literature professor for most of his career, Martha focused his research on Etruscan art. His manual L'Archéologie étrusque et romaine appeared in 1884. This blossomed into L'Art étrusque in 1889. L'Art étrusque came to be the standard for Etruscan studies through its excellent illustrations and scholarship. He also published books on the Etruscan language and on classical literature. Martha was an academic most of his life, teaching at the universities of Montpellier, Dijon, Lyons and in Paris at the École normale and the Sorbonne. He was awarded an emeritus status from the Sorbonne. Martha's Manuel d'archéologie étrusque et romaine was one of the early required texts to be listed in the course catalog for the art history classes of Princeton University.

Home Country: France

Sources: "Martha, Jules." Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology. Nancy Thomson de Grummond, ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996, vol. 2, pp. 729; [obituary:] American Journal of Archaeology 37 (1933): 118.

Bibliography: [dissertation:] Les sacerdoces athéniens. Paris: E. Thorin, 1882; L'art étrusque. Paris: Firmin-Didot et cie, 1889; Manuel d'archéologie étrusque et romaine. Paris: A. Quantin,1884; Catalogue des figurines en terre cuite du Musée de la Société archéologique d'Athènes. Paris, E. Thorin, 1880.