Editing Arthur de Gobineau (section)

==Ministerial career==

=== Minister to Persia ===
In 1861, Gobineau returned to Tehran as the French minister{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=324}} and lived a modest, ascetic lifestyle. He became obsessed with ancient Persia. This soon got out of control as he sought to prove ancient Persia was founded by his much admired Aryans, leading him to engage in what Irwin called "deranged" theories about Persia's history.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=324}} In 1865 Gobineau published ''Les religions et les philosophies dans l'Asie centrale'' ("Religions and Philosophies in Central Asia"), an account of his travels in Persia and encounters with the various esoteric Islamic sects he discovered being practiced in the Persian countryside.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=325}} His mystical frame of mind led him to feel in Persia what he called "''un certain plaisir''" ("a certain pleasure") as nowhere else in the world did he feel the same sort of joy he felt when viewing the ruins of Persia.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=324}}

Gobineau had a low opinion of Islam, a religion invented by the Arab Mohammed. He viewed him as part of the "Semitic race", unlike the Persians whose Indo-European language led him to see them as Aryans.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=325}} Gobineau believed that [[Shia Islam]] was part of a "revolt" by the Aryan Persians against the Semitic Arabs, seeing a close connection between Shia Islam and Persian nationalism.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=325}}  Based on his own experiences, Gobineau believed the Persians did not really believe in [[Islam]], with the faith of the Prophet being a cover over a society that still preserved many pre-Islamic features.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=325}} Gobineau also described the savage persecution of the followers of [[Bábism]] and of the new religion of the [[Baháʼí Faith]] by the Persian state, which was determined to uphold Shia Islam as the state religion.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=325}} Gobineau approved of the persecution of the Babi. He wrote they were "veritable communists" and "true and pure supporters of socialism", as every bit as dangerous as the French [[socialism|socialists]]. He agreed the [[Sun Throne|Peacock Throne]] was right to stamp out Bábism.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=186}} Gobineau was one of the first Westerners to examine the esoteric sects of Persia. Though his work was idiosyncratic, he did spark scholarly interest in an aspect of Persia that had been ignored by Westerners until then.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=326}} 

==== Criticism of Gobineau's Persian work ====
Only with his studies in ancient Persia did Gobineau come under fire from scholars.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=326}} He published two books on ancient Persia, ''Lectures des textes cunéiformes'' (1858) ("Readings of Cuneiform Texts") and ''Traité des écritures cunéiformes'' (1864) ("Treatise of Cuneiform Fragments").{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=326}} Irwin wrote: "The first treatise is wrong-headed, yet still on this side of sanity; the second later and much longer work shows many signs of the kind of derangement that is likely to infect those who interest themselves too closely in the study of occultism."{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=326}} One of the principal problems with Gobineau's approach to translating the cuneiform texts of ancient Persia was that he failed to understand linguistic change and that Old Persian was not the same language as modern Persian.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=327}} His books met with hostile reception from scholars who argued that Gobineau simply did not understand the texts he was purporting to translate.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=327}}

Gobineau's article attempting to rebut his critics in the ''[[Journal asiatique]]'' was not published, as the editors considered his article "unpublishable" as it was full of "absurd" claims and vitriolic abuse of his critics.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=327}} During his second time in Persia, Gobineau spent much time working as an amateur archeologist and gathering material for what was to become ''Traité des écritures cunéiformes'', a book that Irwin called "a monument to learned madness".{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=327}} Gobineau was always very proud of it, seeing the book as a ''magnum opus'' that rivaled the ''Essai''.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=327}} Gobineau had often traveled from Tehran to the Ottoman Empire to visit the ruins of [[Dur-Sharrukin]] at Khorsabad, near [[Mosul]] in what is now northern Iraq.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=327}} The ruins of Khorsabad are Assyrian, built by King [[Sargon II]] in 717 BC, but Gobineau believed the ruins were actually Persian and built by [[Darius the Great]] some two hundred years later.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=328}}
[[File:WP Paul-Émile Botta.jpg|thumb|211x211px|alt=Painted portrait of Paul Émile Botta looking at the artist. | French archaeologist [[Paul-Émile Botta]] (pictured) regarded Gobineau's Persian work as nonsense.]]
French archeologist [[Paul-Émile Botta]] published a scathing review of ''Traité des écritures cunéiformes'' in the ''[[Journal asiatique]]''. He wrote the cuneiform texts at the Dur-Sharrukin were Akkadian, that Gobineau did not know what he was talking about, and the only reason he had even written the review was to prove that he had wasted his time reading the book.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=329}} As Gobineau insistently pressed his thesis, the leading Orientalist in France, Julius von Mohl of the ''Société Asiatique'', was forced to intervene in the dispute to argue that Gobineau's theories lacked "scientific rigor" while he admired the "artistry" of Gobineau's thesis.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=330}}

Continuing his interest in Persia, Gobineau published ''Histoire des Perses'' ("History of the Persians") in 1869.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=330}} In it he did not attempt to distinguish between Persian history and legends treating the ''[[Shahnameh]]'' and the ''[[Kush Nama]]'' (a 12th-century poem presenting a legendary story of two Chinese emperors) as factual, reliable accounts of Persia's ancient history.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=330}} As such, Gobineau began his history by presenting the Persians as Aryans who arrived in Persia from Central Asia and conquered the race of giants known to them as the ''Diws''.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=330}} Gobineau also added his own racial theories to the ''Histoire des Perses'', explaining how [[Cyrus the Great]] had planned the migration of the Aryans into Europe making him responsible for the "grandeur" of medieval Europe.{{sfn|Irwin|2016|p=331}} For Gobineau, Cyrus the Great was the greatest leader in history, writing: "Whatever we ourselves are, as Frenchmen, Englishmen, Germans, Europeans of the nineteenth century, it is to Cyrus that we owe it", going on to call Cyrus as "the greatest of the great men in all human history".{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=187}}

===Minister to Greece===
[[File:Arthur de Gobineau c.(1865).jpg|alt=|thumb| Arthur de Gobineau c.(1865)]]
In 1864, Gobineau became the French minister to Greece.{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=147}} During his time in [[Athens]], which with Tehran were the only cities he was stationed in that he liked, he spent his time writing poetry and learning about sculpture when not traveling with [[Ernest Renan]] in the Greek countryside in search of ruins.{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=147}} Gobineau seduced two sisters in Athens, Zoé and Marika Dragoumis, who became his mistresses; Zoé remained a lifelong correspondent.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=195}} 

In 1832, although nominally independent, Greece had become a joint Anglo-French-Russian protectorate. As such the British, French and Russian ministers in Athens had the theoretical power to countermand any decision of the Greek cabinet. Gobineau repeatedly advised against France exercising this power, writing Greece was "the sad and living evidence of European ineptness and presumptuousness". He attacked the British attempt to bring [[Westminster system|Westminster-style democracy]] to Greece as bringing about "the complete decay of a barbarous land" while accusing the French of being guilty of introducing the Greeks to "the most inept [[Voltairianism]]".{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=193}} However, during his later years, the Greek economy began to grow rapidly; due to this, Gobineau "became so impressed by the Greek economic and social development that he unwittingly acknowledged the benefits of the modern era".{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=153}} After that point, he showed sympathy for the contemporary Greek society building a modern state.{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=154}}

About the "[[Eastern Question]]", Gobineau was initially in favor of Greek expansionism; he was a supporter of [[Ioannis Kolettis]] and his ''[[Megali Idea]]''.{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=149}} However, later on, he advised against French support for the irredentist Greek aspirations, writing the Greeks could not replace the Ottoman Empire, and if the Ottoman Empire should be replaced with a greater Greece, only Russia would benefit.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|pp=194–195}} He no longer believed that a revived "[[Byzantine Empire|Greek empire]]" could thwart [[Russian imperialism]]. He believed that the [[Ottoman Empire]] was more suitable to do so at the time.{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=149}} Gobineau advised Paris: "The Greeks will not control the Orient, neither will the Armenians nor the Slav nor any Christian population, and, at the same time, if others were to come—even the Russians, the most oriental of them all—they could only submit to the harmful influences of this anarchic situation. [...] For me [...] there is no Eastern Question and if I had the honour of being a great government I should concern myself no longer with developments in these areas."{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=195}} In the spring of 1866, Christian Greeks rebelled against the Ottoman Empire on the island of [[Crete]]. Three emissaries arrived in Athens to ask Gobineau for French support for the uprising, saying it was well known that France was the champion of justice and the rights of "small nations".{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=149}} As France was heavily engaged in the war in [[Mexico]] Gobineau, speaking for [[Napoleon III]], informed the Cretans to expect no support from France—they were on their own in taking on the Ottoman Empire.{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=149}} He called the uprising "the most perfect monument to lies, mischief and impudence that has been seen in thirty years".{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=192}} He had no sympathy with the Greek desire to liberate their compatriots living under Ottoman rule; writing to his friend Anton von Prokesch-Osten he noted: "It is one rabble against another".{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|pp=194–195}} In his elderly years, however, he returned to his original position, supporting Greek irredentist ideas.{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=153}}
==== Recall to France as a result of Cretan uprising ====
During the [[Cretan Revolt (1866–1869)|Cretan uprising]], a young French academic [[Gustave Flourens]], noted for his fiery enthusiasm for liberal causes, had joined the Cretean uprising and had gone to Athens to try to persuade the Greek government to support it.{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=150}} Gobineau had unwisely shown Flourens diplomatic dispatches from Paris showing both the French and Greek governments were unwilling to offend the Ottomans by supporting the Cretan uprising, which Flourens then leaked to the press.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=193}} Gobineau received orders from Napoleon III to silence Flourens.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=193}} On 28 May 1868, while Flourens was heading for a meeting with King [[George I of Greece|George I]], he was intercepted by Gobineau who had him arrested by the legation guards, put into chains and loaded onto the first French ship heading for [[Marseille]].{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=150}} ''L'affaire Flourens'' became a ''cause célèbre'' in France with novelist [[Victor Hugo]] condemning Gobineau in an opinion piece in ''Le Tribute'' on 19 July 1868 for the treacherous way he had treated a fellow Frenchman fighting for Greek freedom.{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=150}} With French public opinion widely condemning the minister in Athens, Gobineau was recalled to Paris in disgrace.{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=150}}

==== Views on Greeks ====
His views about modern Greeks were paradoxical and ambiguous;{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=153}}{{sfn|Vacalopoulos|1968|p=104-105}} he stated his ideas somewhat vaguely and confusedly, basing them only on general information.{{sfn|Vacalopoulos|1968|pp=104–105}} He wrote that the Greek people had generally lost a lot of the "Aryan blood" responsible for "the glory that was Greece" due to [[miscegenation]].{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=191}} However, he did not deny the existence of the ancient Greek nucleus in modern Greeks.{{sfn|Vacalopoulos|1968|p=104-105}}{{Sfn|Stewart|2003|p=133}} Instead, he believed that the Greek race had "absorbed" all of the foreign invaders.{{Sfn|Stewart|2003|p=132}} The result of this was a strong alloy, since the Greeks had integrated the best traits of the people they came into contact with. He concluded that the Greeks demonstrated all the requisite qualities to earn the accolade "[[nationality]]".{{Sfn|Stewart|2003|p=133}} Gobineau, indeed, admired the modern Greeks, considering them the "educators" of the Balkan people.{{Sfn|Dontas|1966|p=32}}

==== Assessments ====
In 1868, Gobineau wrote that, without Greece, he would not have been able to do many of the things that he did ("''Sans la Grèce, je n'aurais pas fait beaucoup de choses que j'ai faites. La Grèce y est pour beaucoup''").{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=154}} According to anthropologist Ivo T. Budil:
{{blockquote|Gobineau’s experience of Greece involved permanent controversy between ideology and reality, while reality prevailed. In Greece, Gobineau managed to come to terms with manifestations of modernity, nationalism and economic development... [He] was in a certain sense intellectually "liberated" by Greece and forced sometimes to abandon his racial schemes and stereotypes and accept the diversity and contradictions of real life.{{sfn|Budil|2008|pp=153–154}}}}

Gobineau's legacy in Greece after his death was ambivalent.{{Sfn|Dimaras|1936}} The Greek philologist and historian {{Ill|Konstantinos Dimaras|el|Κωνσταντίνος Δημαράς|fr|Konstantinos Dimaras|}} considered him a genuine [[Philhellenism|philhellene]] whose words and actions were misunderstood.{{Sfn|Dimaras|1936}}

=== Minister to Brazil ===
In 1869, Gobineau was appointed the French minister to Brazil.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} At the time, France and Brazil did not have diplomatic relations at an ambassadorial level, only legations headed by ministers. Gobineau was unhappy the Quai d'Orsay had sent him to Brazil, which he viewed as an insufficiently grand posting.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} Gobineau landed in [[Rio de Janeiro]] during the riotously sensual [[Rio Carnival|Carnival]], which disgusted him. From that moment on he detested Brazil, which he saw as a culturally backward and unsanitary place of diseases. He feared falling victim to the [[yellow fever]] that decimated the population of Brazil on a regular basis.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} Gobineau's major duties during his time in Brazil from March 1869 to April 1870 were to help mediate the end of the [[Paraguayan War]] and seek compensation after Brazilian troops looted the French legation in [[Asunción]]. He did so and was equally successful in negotiating an extradition treaty between the French Empire and the Empire of Brazil. He dropped hints to Emperor [[Pedro II of Brazil|Pedro II]] that French public opinion favored the [[emancipation]] of Brazil's slaves.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=201}} As slavery was the basis of Brazil's economy, and Brazil had the largest slave population in the Americas, Pedro II was unwilling to abolish slavery at this time.

As most Brazilians have a mixture of Portuguese, African and Indian ancestry, Gobineau saw the Brazilian people, whom he loathed, as confirming his theories about the perils of miscegenation.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} He wrote to Paris that Brazilians were "a population totally mixed, vitiated in its blood and spirit, fearfully ugly ... Not a single Brazilian has pure blood because of the pattern of marriages among whites, Indians and Negroes is so widespread that the nuances of color are infinite, causing a degeneration among the lower as well the upper classes".{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} He noted Brazilians are "neither hard-working, active nor fertile".{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} Based on all this, Gobineau reached the conclusion that all human life would cease in Brazil within the next 200 years on the grounds of "genetic degeneracy".{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}}

Gobineau was unpopular in Brazil. His letters to Paris show his complete contempt for everybody in Brazil, regardless of their nationality (except for the Emperor Pedro II), with his most damning words reserved for Brazilians.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} He wrote about Brazil: "Everyone is ugly here, unbelievably ugly, like apes".{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|pp=30–31}} His only friend during his time in Rio was Emperor Pedro II, whom Gobineau praised as a wise and great leader, noting his blue eyes and blond hair as proof that Pedro was an Aryan.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} The fact Pedro was of the [[House of Braganza]] left Gobineau assured he had no African or Indian blood. Gobineau wrote: "Except for the Emperor there is no one in this desert full of thieves" who was worthy of his friendship.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=31}}

Gobineau's attitudes of contempt for the Brazilian people led him to spend much of his time feuding with the Brazilian elite. In 1870 he was involved in a bloody street brawl with the son-in-law of a Brazilian senator who did not appreciate having his nation being put down.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=31}} As a result of the brawl, Pedro II asked Paris to have his friend recalled, or he would declare him ''persona non-grata''.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=31}} Rather than suffer the humiliation of this happening to the French minister the Quai d'Orsay promptly recalled Gobineau.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=31}}

===Return to France===
[[File:Arthur de Gobineau.jpg|thumb|1876 portrait of Gobineau by Mathilde Sallier de La Tour]]
In May 1870 Gobineau returned to France from Brazil.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=207}} In a letter to Tocqueville in 1859 he wrote, "When we come to the French people, I genuinely favor absolute power", and as long as Napoleon III ruled as an autocrat, he had Gobineau's support.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=208}} Gobineau had often predicted France was so rotten the French were bound to be defeated if they ever fought a major war. At the outbreak of the war with Prussia in July 1870, however, he believed they would win within a few weeks.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=210}} After the German victory, Gobineau triumphantly used his own country's defeat as proof of his racial theories.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=210}} He spent the war as the ''maire'' (mayor) of the little town of Trie in [[Oise]] department.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|pp=210–211}} After the Prussians occupied Trie, Gobineau established good relations with them and was able to reduce the indemnity imposed on Oise department.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=211}}

Later, Gobineau wrote a book ''Ce qui est arrivé à la France en 1870'' ("What Happened to France in 1870") explaining the French defeat was due to racial degeneration, which no publisher chose to publish.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=213}} He argued the French bourgeoisie were "descended from Gallo-Roman slaves", which explained why they were no match for an army commanded by ''Junkers''.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=214}} Gobineau attacked Napoleon III for his plans to rebuild Paris writing: "This city, pompously described as the capital of the universe, is in reality only the vast caravanserai for the idleness, greed and carousing of all Europe."{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=214}}

In 1871, poet [[Wilfrid Scawen Blunt]] who met Gobineau described him thus:{{blockquote|Gobineau is a man of about 55, with grey hair and moustache, dark rather prominent eyes, sallow complexion, and tall figure with brisk almost jerky gait. In temperament he is nervous, energetic in manner, observant, but distrait, passing rapidly from thought to thought, a good talker but a bad listener. He is a savant, novelist, poet, sculptor, archaeologist, a man of taste, a man of the world."{{sfn|Irwin|2016|pp=321–332}}}} Despite his embittered view of the world and misanthropic attitudes, Gobineau was capable of displaying much charm when he wanted to. He was described by historian [[Albert Sorel]] as "a man of grace and charm" who would have made a perfect diplomat in ''Ancien Régime'' France.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=265}}

===Minister to Sweden===
In May 1872, Gobineau was appointed the French minister to Sweden.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=225}} After arriving in [[Stockholm]], he wrote to his sister Caroline: "This is the pure race of the North—that of the masters", calling the Swedes "the purest branch of the Germanic race".{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=225}} In contrast to France, Gobineau was impressed with the lack of social conflict in Sweden, writing to Dragoumis: "There is no class hatred. The nobility lives on friendly terms with the middle class and with the people at large".{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=225}} Gobineau argued that because of Sweden's remote location in Scandinavia, Aryan blood had been better preserved as compared to France. Writing about the accession of [[Oscar II of Sweden|Oscar II]] to the Swedish throne in 1872 he said: "This country is unique ... I have just seen one king die and another ascend the throne without anyone doubling the guard or alerting a soldier".{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=226}} The essential conservatism of Swedish society also impressed Gobineau as he wrote to Pedro II: "The conservative feeling is amongst the most powerful in the national spirit and these people relinquish the past only step by step and with extreme caution".{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=226}}

Sweden presented a problem for Gobineau between reconciling his belief in an Aryan master race with his insistence that only the upper classes were Aryans. He eventually resolved this by denouncing the Swedes as debased Aryans after all.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=228}} He used the fact King Oscar allowed Swedish democracy to exist and did not try to rule as an absolute monarch as evidence the House of Bernadotte were all weak and cowardly kings.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=228}} By 1875, Gobineau was writing, "Sweden horrifies me" and wrote with disgust about "Swedish vulgarity and contemptibility".{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=228}}

In 1874, Gobineau met the [[homosexual]] German diplomat [[Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg]], in Stockholm and became very close to him.{{sfn|Domeier|2015|p=171}} Eulenburg was later to recall fondly how he and Gobineau had spent hours during their time in Sweden under the "Nordic sky, where the old world of the gods lived on in the customs and habits of the people as well in their hearts."{{sfn|Domeier|2015|p=171}} Gobineau later wrote that only two people in the entire world had ever properly understood his racist philosophy, namely [[Richard Wagner]] and Eulenburg.{{sfn|Domeier|2015|p=171}}
[[File:Becque - Nouvelles asiatiques p 217.jpeg|alt=From a 1924 edition – illustration by Maurice Becque|thumb|252x252px|An illustration from Gobineau's novel ''Nouvelle Asiatiques'', published while he was in Sweden. The book reflected his long-standing interest in Persia and the Orient.]]

Gobineau encouraged Eulenburg to promote his theory of an Aryan master-race, telling him: "In this way you will help many people understand things sooner."{{sfn|Domeier|2015|p=171}} Later, Eulenburg was to complain all of his letters to Gobineau had to be destroyed because "They contain too much of an intimately personal nature".{{sfn|Röhl|1994|p=54}} During his time in Sweden, Gobineau became obsessed with the [[Vikings]] and became intent on proving he was descended from the [[Norsemen|Norse]].{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=229}} His time in Stockholm was a very productive period from a literary viewpoint. He wrote ''Les Pléiades'' ("The Pleiades"), ''Les Nouvelles Asiatiques'' ("The New Asians"), ''La Renaissance'', most of ''Histoire de Ottar Jarl, pirate norvégien conquérant du pays de Bray en Normandie et de sa descendance'' ("History of Ottar Jarl, Norwegian Pirate and Conqueror of Normandy and his Descendants") and completed the first half of his epic poem ''Amadis'' while serving as minister to Sweden.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=229}} ''Amadis'' is a 12,000 verse epic poem published posthumously in 1887 which concludes with its protagonists drowning in the blood of the Chinese they have killed.<ref name=":04">{{Cite book |last=Crean |first=Jeffrey |title=The Fear of Chinese Power: an International History |date=2024 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1-350-23394-2 |edition= |series=New Approaches to International History series |location=London |page=13}}</ref>

In 1879, Gobineau attempted to prove his own racial superiority over the rest of the French with his pseudo-family history ''Histoire de Ottar Jarl''. It begins with the line "I descend from Odin", and traces his supposed descent from the Viking [[Ottar Jarl]].{{sfn|Rowbotham|1939|p=154}} As the de Gobineau family first appeared in history in late 15th century Bordeaux, and Ottar Jarl—who may or may not have been a real person—is said to have lived in the 10th century, Gobineau had to resort to a great deal of invention to make his genealogy work.{{sfn|Rowbotham|1939|p=154}} For him, the ''Essai'', the ''Histoire des Perses'' and ''Histoire de Ottar Jarl'' comprised a trilogy, what the French critic Jean Caulmier called "a poetic vision of the human adventure", covering the universal history of all races in the ''Essai'', to the history of the Aryan branch in Persia in ''Histoire des Perses'' to his own family's history in ''Histoire de Ottar Jarl''.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=230}}

During his time in Sweden, although remaining outwardly faithful to the Catholic Church, Gobineau privately abandoned his belief in [[Christianity]]. He was very interested in the pagan religion of the Vikings, which seemed more authentically Aryan to him.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=232}} For him, maintaining his Catholicism was a symbol of his reactionary politics and rejection of [[liberalism]], and it was for these reasons he continued to nominally observe Catholicism.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=232}} Gobineau told his friend the Comte de Basterot that he wanted a Catholic burial only because the de Gobineaus had always been buried in Catholic ceremonies, not because of any belief in Catholicism.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=233}}

For leaving his post in Stockholm without permission to join the Emperor Pedro II on his European visit, Gobineau was told in January 1877 to either resign from the Quai d'Orsay or be fired; he chose the former.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dreher|first=Robert Edward|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uw5uAAAAMAAJ&q=arthur+de+gobineau+biography|title=Arthur de Gobineau: An Intellectual Portrait|date=1970|publisher=University of Wisconsin|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Arthur de Gobineau {{!}} French diplomat, writer, and ethnologist|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arthur-de-Gobineau|access-date=2020-09-15|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>

Gobineau spent his last years living in [[Rome]], a lonely and embittered man whose principal friends were the Wagners and Eulenburg.{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=151}} He saw himself as a great sculptor and attempted to support himself by selling his sculpture.{{sfn|Budil|2008|p=151}}