Epigraphist and historian of the Greek world whose scientific work pioneered the exploration of Epirus and southern Illyria, considered as margins by classical cultural geography, Pierre Cabanes died in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) , on June 13, at the age of 92.
Working from the 1970s on Albanian soil, where he befriended a number of colleagues who suffered from the rigors of a totalitarian regime, the historian knew, over half a century, by his sense of listening and of empathy, establishing a dialogue with representatives of nationalities ready to tear each other apart in the name of an exalted patriotism, denying their community of destiny since Antiquity. By this prowess, Pierre Cabanes has done more than the work of a diplomat, delivering through his deeply humanist approach to history and archeology an ecumenical bet that is ethical.
The challenge is not so surprising coming from a man forged in the trials. If he comes from a middle class cultured with Christian Democrat fiber, the anchoring of his people in social Catholicism is old. In his maternal line, we find Sister Rosalie Rendu, beatified by John Paul II in 2003, who created with Frédéric Ozanam the Society of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul in 1833. Pierre, son of an insurance agent established in Puy-en-Velay, was born there on December 23, 1930, the fourth of five siblings.
The war led his father like his two eldest children and two of his aunts to engage in the Resistance and the heroic destiny of his maternal uncle, Henri Rendu, who died at the age of 29 while delivering Strasbourg in November 1944 (he was promoted to Companion of the Posthumously released in August 1945), left a deep mark on the teenager.
Impeccable academic career
If he undertook history studies in Lyon, it was in Paris that he pursued them, impressed by Edouard Will (1920-1997), fraternizing with Pierre Vidal-Naquet (1930-2006), enthusiastic about the courses of epigraphy of Louis Robert (1904-1985) at the Collège de France. It was also there that he completed them, obtaining the aggregation before undertaking his doctoral thesis under the supervision of Pierre Lévêque (1921-2004). The Hellenist, who had dedicated his to King Pyrrhus, suggested that he study Epirus from the death of the king to the Roman conquest (272-167 BC). A perilous choice, since Albanians, Macedonians and Greeks clash, summoning archeology to justify their national claims, with a violence that is in no way theoretical. Pierre Cabanes who, mobilized, was second lieutenant in Algeria, quartered in the village of Ouled Ali, in the Djurdjura massif, in Grande Kabylie, between December 1956 and November 1957, has the experience and works to establish on the sidelines of his excavations, so supervised, a real if not peaceful dialogue which he will make his signature.
If his academic career was impeccable – stationed in Nantes, he succeeded Claude Mossé in 1969 at the faculty of Clermont-Ferrand, where he became the first president of the new Clermont-II university (1977-1982), before opting for Paris-X-Nanterre, professor of history from antiquity until his retirement – ??and his manifest recognition – he chaired the jury for the aggregation in 1987 – it is still in Albania that it is appropriate to measure the scholar’s contribution.
That he comment on the Illyrian Book of Appian (Les Belles Lettres, 2011), that he establish over twenty-five years the Corpus of Greek inscriptions of southern Illyria and Epirus (1995-2020) in collaboration with his colleagues Albanians, it is through his human contacts that Pierre Cabanes has established close and precious relations with the Albanians as well as the Greeks, present at the conferences he organizes in Clermont.
Through the excavation site that he took over at Apollonia d’Illyrie, he continued the lesson of his master Louis Robert and prepared his successor. François Quantin, one of his students, remembers the availability, benevolent listening and empathy for all the peoples of this fierce European. It is only necessary to immerse oneself in these Albanian Passions (Odile Jacob, 1999), co-signed with his son Bruno, a contemporary for whom this was the first publication, to see men emerge, their land come to life – and understand it.
