- Jean-Yves Empereur
Jean-Yves Empereur (1952 - ) is a French
archeologist andegyptologist . He studied classic literature in the (DEA, CAPES, Agrégation de lettres in 1975,Doctorat in archeology in 1977).He is a former member and general secretary of the
École française d'Athènes . He conducted some excavations, including some submarine ones, inGreece ,Cyprus andTurkey , on the sitesThasos andAmathus .He is a researcher from the CNRS, director of the
Centre d'études Alexandrines that he founded in 1990, and since then he leads the archeological research inAlexandria , on earth and underwater.Archeological excavations
Jean-Yves Empereur conducts some emergency
excavation s right in Alexandria town center. The modern city was built over the ancient one, which means that the archeological excavations become possible only when old buildings are taken down for some civil works. On the Diana field, a Roman villa from the 2nd century can be found, showing some beautifulmosaic s.In 1993, a dike was to be built on the supposed site of the
lighthouse of Alexandria . Jean-Yves Empereur,Jean-Pierre Corteggiani and around thirty scuba divers then attempted a rescue operation by starting some excavations in a 2.25ha zone situated north-east from Fort Qaitbay.Until 1996, these excavations in Alexandria harbour led to the discovery of many archeological remains: 5000 architectural blocks weighing up to 75 tons,
column s, capitals, huge broken statues, a dozensphinx es, and above all the undisputable remains of the lighthouse itself. A 12-metre door made ofAswan granite was virtually reassembled. Some gigantic statues that used to stand against the lighthouse, representing Ptolemaic kings and queens, were found right next to their pedestal. Jean-Yves Empereur hopes that in the future this marvellous site will be open to amateur scuba divers.In March 1997, the site of the
Necropolis , Alexandria's city of the dead, was discovered during the building of the bridge linking the western harbour to theCairo road. The director of the museums and archeological sites of Alexandria asked for Empereur's help on June 27th. The general map of the ancient city appeared then, with the streets following the drawings byDinocrates , the firsturbanist architect.Bibliography
* "Les amphores, la nécropole nord d’Amathonte II, Études chypriotes VIII", 1987
* "Le port hellénistique d’Amathonte, Actes du Symposium « Cyprus and the Sea »", Nicosie, 1993
* "A short guide to the catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, Alexandria", Sarapis, Alexandria, 1995, ISBN 977-5633-01-X
* "Alexandrie redécouverte", Fayard, Paris, 1998, ISBN 2-7028-1161-2
* "Alexandrina 1", Institut français d'archéologie orientale, Cairo, 1998
* "Alexandrie médiévale 1", with Christian Décobert, Institut français d'archéologie orientale, Cairo, 1998
* "Petit guide du Musée gréco-romain d'Alexandrie", Harpocrates, Alexandria, 2000, ISBN 977-5845-02-5
* "Alexandrie hier et demain", Gallimard, 2001, ISBN 2-07-076240-8
* "Nécropolis 1", with Marie-Dominique Nenna, Institut français d'archéologie orientale, Cairo, 2001
* "Alexandrina 2", Institut français d'archéologie orientale, Cairo, 2002
* "Nécropolis 2", with Marie-Dominique Nenna, Institut français d'archéologie orientale, Cairo, 2003
* "Le Phare d'Alexandrie, la Merveille retrouvée", Gallimard, Paris, 2nd edition, 2004, ISBN 2-07-030379-9Filmography
"Gédéon Programmes" produced a documentary trilogy about Jean-Yves Empereur's work, directed by Thierry Ragobert:
* La septième merveille du monde (le Phare)
* Alexandrie la magnifique
* Les mystères d'AlexandrieTrivia
In 2001, he legally attacked the video games publisher
Eidos Interactive for using his image in the , whenLara Croft meets in Alexandria a French friend of hers who is an exact copy of Jean-Yves Empereur. The publisher agreed to stop using this character.ee also
*
Alexandria
*Lighthouse of Alexandria External links
* [http://www.cealex.org Centre d'études alexandrines] .
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