GSELL, STÉPHANE. - Historian and archaeologist, b. in Paris on 7 Feb. 1864, d. there on 10 Jan. 1932. He was a student at the French School in Rome from 1886 to 1890. During this period (1889) he directed, with excellent method, the excavations carried out at Vulci by the owner Prince Giulio Torlonia and published them in the series of the *Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome*, *Fouilles dans la nécropole de Vulci* (Paris 1891).
Soon after, two valuable theses for his doctorate in letters appeared: *Essai sur le règne de l'empereur Domitien* (ibid. 1893); and *De Tipasa Mauretaniae Caesariensis urbe*; this Latin dissertation was however immediately revised by G. in his study *Tipasa, ville de la Maurétanie césarienne* (in *Mélanges d'archéol. et d'hist.*, 1-4 [1894]), pp. 291-450; here, drawing on the exact topographical indications contained in the *Passio* of the martyr Salas, then studied by Duchesne, he illustrated the basilica of the same Saint which he had identified. Tipasa is also treated in *Recherches archéologiques en Algérie* (Paris 1893) and in *Promenades archéologiques aux environs d'Alger* (ibid. 1926).
His appointment as professor at the *École supérieure des lettres* in Algiers determined his dedication to Africa. The breadth and precision of his notes on the Christian monuments then coming to light in Algeria, which he immediately studied, constitute a model of clarity and precision rarely attained. Such are his *Notes d'archéologie algérienne* in the *Bulletin du Comité* of 1899; the *Chronique archéologique africaine* of 1891; *L'exploration archéologique dans le département de Constantine*, in collaboration with H. Graillot, in *Mélanges d'arch. et d'hist.*, 13 (1893), pp. 461-541 and 14 (1894), pp. 17-86, 501-609, where there also appeared his *Chroniques africaines*: 15 (1895), pp. 301-50; 16 (1896), pp. 441-90; 18 (1898), pp. 69-140; 19 (1899), pp. 35-83.
The two memoirs on the *Edifices chrétiens de Thélepte* and on the *Edifices chrétiens d'Ammaedara* (Haidra) appeared in the Acts of the II International Congress of Christian Archaeology of 1900 (Rome 1902, pp. 197-239); they were published, as a tribute to his memory, with notes by A. Saumagne in the *Revue tunisienne*, 1932, pp. 5-56, 277-300, and separately in Tunis in 1933. Of capital importance in his *Monuments antiques de l'Algérie* (2 vols., Paris 1901) is the treatise included in vol. II devoted to Christian cult buildings (pp. 114-343), and it would be greatly beneficial if someone were to update it, or better still, continue II.
The *Atlas archéologique de l'Algérie* (Paris-Algiers 1902-1911) lists 10,000 names in a two-column text of 510 pages in-folio. The accuracy of the information, in its sobriety, shows with what scrupulous care G. had assiduously traversed the entire territory of Algeria, not neglecting the smallest monumental remains. He also published the illustration of the *Musée de Philippeville* (Paris-Algiers 1898) and that of the *Musée de Tébessa* (ibid. 1902). In 1916 there appeared his *Textes relatifs à l'histoire de l'Afrique*, I, *Hérodote* (ibid. 1916). Meanwhile, according to the plan already envisaged since the time of the illustration of Tipasa, he prepared and published the *Inscriptions latines de l'Algérie*, I (Paris 1922). Notable and comprehensive is his study on *Le christianisme en Oranie avant la conquête arabe*, published in the *Bulletin du cinquantenaire de la Société de géographie et d'archéologie de la province d'Oran*, 1928, pp. 17-32. Also valuable is his treatment of *La Tripolitaine et le Sahara au IIIe siècle*, in *Mémoires de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres*, Paris 1926. But the truly monumental work of G. is his *Histoire ancienne de l'Afrique du Nord* (8 vols., Paris 1913-28), which, due to his death, remained unfinished at the end of the Roman Republic.