LE BLANT, EDMOND-FRÉDÉRIC. — French epigraphist and archaeologist, b. in Paris on 12 Aug. 1818, d. there on 5 July 1897. He completed literary and legal studies. He held a position at the Ministry of Finance; in 1846 he composed, in collaboration, a history of ceramics, published in 1862.
In 1847, for health reasons, he moved to Rome, where he met, among other scholars, Frs. G. Marchi and R. Garrucci and entered into a relationship with G. B. De Rossi, then a young man of 25, who guided him through the catacombs, basilicas, and museums, instilling in him an enthusiasm for Christian archaeology and epigraphy; so much so that Le B., having returned to his homeland in 1848, obtained from the Ministry of Public Instruction permission to travel in order to collect ancient Christian inscriptions from Gaul. In 1852 he presented a sample of Christian inscriptions dating before the 8th century, later becoming the first volume of a collection published in 1856; the second volume appeared in 1865 and a supplement in 1892. Le B. resumed the study of the acts of the martyrs, but with a different method from Ruinart, arguing that, within a body of texts riddled with errors, alongside fantastical details, even in the spurious Acts there are ancient elements worthy of consideration. As early as 1849 he demonstrated the importance of Christian sarcophagi. From 1883 to 1889 he directed the École française de Rome. Le B.’s publications numbered more than 400, concerning especially inscriptions and sarcophagi.
Works (only some are listed): *Inscriptions chretiennes de la Gaule antérieures au VIIIe siècle, réunies et annotées* (I, Paris 1856; II, ibid. 1865); *La question du vase de sang* (ibid. 1858); *Manuel d'épigraphie chrétienne d'après les marbres de la Gaule accompagnée d'une bibliographie spéciale* (ibid. 1868); *Etudes sur les sarcophages chrétiens antiques de la ville d'Arles* (ibid. 1878); *Les Actes des martyrs. Supplément aux Actes sincers de Dom Ruinart* (ibid. 1883); *Sarcophages chrétiens de la Gaule* (ibid. 1886); *L'épigraphie chrétienne en Gaule et dans l'Afrique romaine* (ibid. 1890); *Nouveau recueil des inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule antérieures au VIIIe siècle* (ibid. 1892).