Theodore Reinach, a humanist scholar

He was the youngest of an exceptional family: Joseph, the eldest, friend and collaborator of Léon Gambetta, jurist and politician, was the deputy of the Basses-Alpes. Historian and writer, he ran the newspaper The French Republic. Salomon, the second, art historian, Hellenist and scientist was the eminent director of the National Antics Museum, jewel of French archeology. The great learning of the three brothers led a singer to give them the nickname of “Je-sais-tout” (“Know-it-all”), referring to their respective initials.

Théodore Reinach was a true scholar, such as the 19th century produced: but to this thirst for knowledge was added a desire for excellence, an unwavering requirement. When he became passionate about a discipline, he became a specialist and knew how to combine the knowledge acquired in each field. Thus, he participated in the publication of the Recueil des inscriptions juridiques grecques (1890-1898) while he proposed a new demonstration of the Pythagorean theorem to the Journal des mathématiques.

Recognized in the scientific world, he was solicited when the French excavations carried out in Delphi on the Treasury of the Athenians delivered a strange inscription, whose letters are themselves surmounted by alphabetical characters. With his extensive knowledge, he then deciphered a score, that of a hymn to Apollo, which he had reworked by Gabriel Fauré and played in 1894, then in the great amphitheater of the Sorbonne, in 1897.

A great scholar, Théodore Reinach was also a true humanist, a man committed to serving his contemporaries. He was a deputy for Savoie from 1906 to 1914, and it was he who defended the 1913 law on the protection of historic monuments.

Like his brother Joseph, he was very involved in the Dreyfus Affair.

As he achieved his thesis in law in 1885, he was simultaneously passionate about a variety of fields, in which he usually became a specialist. The list was long, diversified and vertiginous ! Numismatic, epigraphy, papyrology, music and of course archeology. On that note, he presented a thesis in history in 1890 and will later on hold the numismatic chair at the Sorbonne University. From 19024, he gave the same teaching as the Collège de France as teacher.