In his famous "Prolegomena" the Jesuit Jean Hardouin (1646-1729) developed the thesis that the greater part of Classical literature, along with most Christian patristic literature, had been fabricated by a crew of forgers in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Jean Hardouin (1646 - September 3, 1729), French classical scholar. He denied the genuineness of most ancient works of art, coins and inscriptions.