La Cité Antique

An influential 1860s study of Greek and Roman society by a pioneering French historian.

La Cité Antique (second edition 1866), which explores the connection between religion and the political institutions of ancient Greece and Rome, is the best known book by the influential nineteenth-century French historian Fustel de Coulanges. It focuses on family law and the evolving social structure of ancient cities.La Cité Antique is the best-known work by the nineteenth-century French historian Fustel de Coulanges (1830–1889), who pioneered an objective approach to the study of history, and the use of primary rather than secondary sources. This reissue is of the 1866 edition of the book, which was originally published in 1864 while the author was professor of history at Strasbourg. It explores the influence of religion and kinship on the development of the laws and political institutions of ancient Greek and Roman societies. Coulanges describes many aspects of Greek and Roman family law including marriage, divorce, adoption, property and inheritance. After giving an account of the social organisation of cities, their administration, and the rights and duties of citizens, he outlines the processes of institutional change and the evolving power relationships between the social classes. Finally he discusses the effects of Christianity in the political sphere.