Paul Lucas (traveller)

Paul Lucas (31 August 1664, in Quevilly, near Rouen – 12 May 1737, in Madrid) was a French merchant, naturalist, physician and antiquarian to King Louis XIV.

In 1696 he returned to France with a large collection of medals and other antiquities which were purchased for the French Royal Cabinet.

This brought him to the attention of the court and he then began a series of three voyages to the East: he travelled extensively in Greece, Turkey, the Levant and Egypt, in three major voyages (1699–1703, 1704–1708 and 1714–1717).

[1] Lucas is one of the earliest sources of information from Upper Egypt, visiting among other places Thebes (though he does not identify it) and the Nile up to the cataracts.

Diyab viewed Lucas as having miraculous medical powers.