Paul Lucas (31 August 1664, in Quevilly, near Rouen – 12 May 1737, in Madrid) was a French merchant, naturalist, physician and antiquarian to King Louis XIV.
Lucas was the son of Centurion Lucas, a well known book printer and publisher in Rouen, and Judith Mauclerc.
In 1688, he served with the Venetians at the Siege of Negroponte. In 1696 he returned to France with a large collection of medals and other antiquities which were purchased for the French Royal Cabinet. This brought him to the attention of the court and he then began a series of three voyages to the East: he travelled extensively in Greece, Turkey, the Levant and Egypt, in three major voyages (1699–1703, 1704–1708 and 1714–1717).[1]
Lucas is one of the earliest sources of information from Upper Egypt, visiting among other places Thebes (though he does not identify it) and the Nile up to the cataracts.
A panegyrical portrayal of Lucas is also afforded in the Arabic autobiography of Hanna Diyab, a Syrian whom Lucas employed as an interpreter, assistant, and servant from around 1707-10. Diyab viewed Lucas as having miraculous medical powers. Lucas's own writings never mention Diyab, however.[2]
Selected illustrations from Paul Lucas' books:
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