The Ancient City: A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome

by Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges and Willard Small

Book Overview

Originally published in 1864 as La Cit? Antique, this remarkable work describes society as it existed in Greece during the age of Pericles and in Rome at the time of Cicero. Working with only a fraction of the materials available to today's classical scholar, Fustel de Coulanges fashioned a complete picture of life in the ancient city, resulting in a book impressive today as much for the depth of its portrait as for the thesis it presents.

In...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801823048
• ISBN13: 9780801823046
• Release Date: May 1980
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Corrective to rationalist bias in constitutional politics

Fustel marshalls historical evidence to show that in the classical city-state social organisation based on religion -- for example, the patrician order, family graves, the sacred fire, the god Terminus who demarcated property, shared ceremonial meals, etc. -- came before social organisation based on law. The Ancient City should be read as a corrective to the excessively rationalist bias in constitutional thinking which we inherit from the 18th century. Sadly, this important and rewarding book did not appear until one hundred years after the US Constitution was adopted.