Jean-Francois Champollion: Did you mean...?

A battle scene of Etruscans fighting Romans in the guise of mythical figures. From the Francois Tomb at Vulci. c. 350 BCE.

A detail from the handle of one of the finest surviving examples of Attic black-figure pottery, the Francois Vase (570-565 BCE) depicting Ajax carrying the body of Achilles during the Trojan War. (Archaeological Museum, Florence)

A 19th century CE copy of the battle scene between Etruscans and Romans from the 4th century BCE Francois Tomb at Vulci. (By Carlo Ruspi, Vatican Museums Rome)

A 17th century illustration of François L’Olonais (1630-1668), the infamous French buccaneer who terrorized the Spanish Main. (From an early edition of The Buccaneers of America by Alexander Exquemelin)

A floor plan and side view diagram of the 4th century BCE Etruscan Francois Tomb at Vulci, central Italy.

A late-19th century cigarette card showing the French buccaneer and pirate François L'Olonais (1630-1668). L'Olonias was the cruellest of all buccaneers, torturing and executing almost all of his captives during a brutal career attacking...

Melusine (pronounced Mel-ew-seen, also given as Melusina) is a legendary figure from European folklore depicted as a mermaid, sometimes with two tails, as a serpent from the waist down, or as a dragon. She is associated with the ruling houses...

The assassination of revolutionary activist and Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat on 13 July 1793 was one of the most iconic moments of the French Revolution (1789-1799), immortalized in Jacques-Louis David's painting Death of Marat. Marat's...

The Battle of Aspern-Essling (21-22 May 1809) was a major battle of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). It saw an Austrian army under Archduke Charles defeat a French army led by Emperor Napoleon I (r. 1804-1814; 1815) as it attempted to cross...

François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières (1543-1626), oil on canvas portrait by Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury, 1835. Palace of Versailles.