Background
Born in Lyon, he was the only son of the physicist André-Marie Ampère. Jean-Jacques' mother died while he was an infant. Jean Jacques was educated in Paris, and in 1827 the first of his many travels took him to the Scandinavian countries, where he made a study of local folk songs and poetry, comparing them to Norse mythology. In 1830 he delivered a series of lectures at the AthénéeAthenee of Marseilles on the links between Scandinavian and Greek mythology. Three years later he accepted the chair of History of French Literature at the CollègeCollege de France. He became a member of the AcadémieAcademie in 1848 and in 1851 traveled in the Western Hemisphere, an account of which he published as Promenades en Amerique: ÉtatsEtats Unis, Cuba at Mexique (1855) ("Travels in America: United States, Cuba, and Mexico"). Until his death in Pau on Mar. 27, 1864, he spent the remainder of his life in France completing his most ambitious work, L'Histoire romaine àa Rome (1861-1864) ("Roman History in Rome"). Most noteworthy among his other works are: De l'histoire de la poésiepoesie (1830) ("The History of Poetry"), Histoire littérairelitteraire de la France avant le XIIe sièclesiecle (1840) (3 vol.) ("History of French Literature Before the Twelfth Century"), and Littérature,Litterature, voyages et poésiespoesies (1850) ("Literature, Travels, and Poetry").