Victor Duruy

Victor Duruy, (born Sept. 10, 1811, Paris, France—died Nov. 14, 1894, Paris), French scholar and public official who, as national minister of education (1863–69), initiated extensive and controversial reforms. Duruy taught at the Collège Henri IV from 1833 to 1861. He wrote textbooks and works on ancient Roman and Greek civilization, among them Histoire des Romaines, which he introduced as two volumes in 1843–44; the work reached seven volumes by 1885. He assisted Napoleon III with his biography of Julius …