Anne Dacier

Anne Le Fèvre Dacier (French pronunciation: [an lə fɛvʁ dasje]; c. 1651 – 17 August 1720), better known during her lifetime as Madame Dacier ([madam dasje]), was a French scholar, translator, commentator and editor of the classics, including the Iliad and the Odyssey. She sought to champion ancient literature and used her great capabilities in Latin and Greek for this purpose as well as for her own financial support, producing a series of editions and translations from which she earned her living. She was the dedicatee of Gilles Ménage's Historia mulierum philosopharum, whose characterisation of her and of Anna Maria van Schurman was used to provide leading examples in treatises arguing for female education across the following centuries.