Academy set up by Colbert in 1663 to compose inscriptions for royal medals and monuments. Consisting at first of only four members (including Perrault), it was called the Petite Académie, then the Académie des Inscriptions et Médailles, before receiving its permanent name in 1716. During the 18th c. its activities expanded dramatically. It fostered research, published papers on such subjects as history and archaeology, and can be seen as the cradle of anthropology. Suppressed in 1793, it was incorporated in the Institut de France under its original name in 1816.
[Peter France]
