Joseph-Daniel Guigniaut

A Hellenist and mythographer, he studied under the classicist Jean-Louis Burnouf, known as Burnouf le père, at the Lycée impérial before moving on to the École Normale and the Sorbonne, where he became a professor.  Beginning in 1821 he dedicated himself to the study of Creuzer’s Simbolica, on the suggestion of the Hellenist Jean- François Boissonade. He was also influenced by Villemain and the philosopher Royer-Collard. After serving as Maître de conférences at the École normale supérieure, where he was promoted to director in 1830 (he resigned in 1836 after disagreements with Cousin), he was elected to the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres (1837), made secretary general of the conseil de l'université from 1945 to 1950, and played a leading role in the foundation of the École française d'Athènes (1846). He took Jules Michelet’s place at the Collège de France in 1854.His greatest work was the translation – in reality a reworking – of Creuzer’s Simbolica, the Religions de l'antiquité considérées principalement dans leurs formes symboliques et mythologiques, issued in 10 volumes between 1825 and 1851.  He was also responsible for a new edition of the Galerie mythologique by Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison and participated in numberous other publications, such as the «Revue archéologique », the «Journal de l’Instruction publique», the  Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France, the anthology Poètes moralistes de la Grèce, Artaud de Montor’s Encyclopédie des gens du monde, and Michaud’s Biographie universelle.