Jean Emile Humbert

Jean Emile Humbert (23 July 1771 in The Hague – 20 February 1839 in Livorno) was a Dutch lieutenant-colonel who can be credited with rediscovering ancient Carthage. As an agent for the Dutch government he procured vital parts of the collection of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden. Humbert was awarded the Order of the Netherlands Lion for his archaeological work.

Humbert was a son of Jean Humbert, a Dutch painter of Swiss and French extraction. His brother David Pierre Giottino Humbert de Superville was a well-known artist and scholar.

As an officer in the army of the Dutch Republic he was faced with the political unrest of the Napoleon era. When in 1795 the Dutch Republic was transformed by revolutionaries into the Batavian Republic, Humbert refused to serve the new state and found his way to an engineering project in Tunisia.

In North Africa Humbert stayed with Antoine Nijssen, the Dutch consul for Tunisia. Humbert fell in love with the consul's daughter, Thérèse, and would marry her in 1801. During these years the new harbour for Tunis was built, and when the commanding officer of the project left the country for good, Humbert took charge.

During his lengthy stay in Tunisia, Humbert became fascinated with the history of the country. He started collecting antiquities, and began compiling notes about the history, customs and language of Tunisia. He took a special interest in the peninsula near Tunis where the ancient city of Carthage had once been. Although the location of Roman Carthage was known, the exact location of Punic Carthage was a matter of dispute. After the Third Punic War the Romans had completely destroyed the site. When a century later a new Roman colony was built, all Punic remains would be swamped in the later architecture. Humbert studied the area, drew an accurate map and escorted many travelers who visited the area. This led to him becoming an expert on the topography of the ancient site.

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