Like many members of the Commission de Topographie des Gaules, Pierre-Charles Robert had a military background. He joined the CTG in October 1873 and played an active role in the commission’s epigraphic project.

A military superintendent, numismatist and epigraphist

A former student of the École Polytechnique, Pierre-Charles Robert served for nearly his entire career in the intendance militaire, as superintendent of the Garde impériale in Paris, then Metz. In 1862, he was appointed director general of the administration at the Ministry of War and was then promoted to general superintendent in 1867, before retiring in 1875. At the same time, he carried out varied work in numismatics and was published numerous times in the Revue numismatique française. A member of several scholarly societies, in particular in provincial France and abroad, he was appointed a correspondent then member, in December 1862 and 1871 respectively, of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, replacing Prosper Mérimée.

An active member of the commission’s epigraphic project

He joined the Commission de Topographie des Gaules in 1873. The author of a series of notebooks conserved at the musée d'Archéologie nationale, he supported General Creuly in his epigraphic project. Alongside this, he continued to carry out research which he presented before the Académie, in particular about Mercure and Rosmerta and inscriptions in the Bordeaux region. He also participated in the Recueil des inscriptions de Gaule project led by Léon Renier. Finally, he was the author of an important study of the inscriptions of Moselle, which appeared from 1873. His papers and library were gifted to the musée d'Archéologie nationale by his widow in 1894.

 

Partners and authors