ANNESSI, VICTOR-ANTOINE. - French Orientalist, born at Saint-Affrique on 16 Aug. 1844, died there on 12 Dec. 1878.
He completed his studies at the Jesuit college in his native town and followed the example of three of his uncles who were priests. At the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, under the direction of Le Hir (q.v.), he studied Oriental languages. Ordained priest in 1869, he went to Egypt to study the relationship between its monuments and the Bible; later, as chaplain and assistant parish priest in Paris, he gave excellent proofs of his scientific preparation. However, of frail constitution, he was taken from his studies at the age of only 34. Besides works on comparative Semitic grammar, he left L'Égypte et Moïse, Paris 1875; Atlas biblique, ibid. 1876; Job et l'Égypte, le Rédempteur et la vie future dans les civilisations primitives, ibid. 1877.