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

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With this influential study, French historian Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges initiated a new approach to Greek and Roman city organization. Fustel de Coulanges' 1864 masterpiece, La Cité antique, drew upon physical evidence as well as ancient documents rather than the usual post-Classical histories. The result is a fresh, accurate, and detailed portrait of the religious, family, and civic life of Periclean Athens and Rome during the time of Cicero.
This fascinating sociological account reveals the significance of kinship and the cult of the family hearth and ancestors to ancient Hellenic and Latin urban culture. It chronicles the rise of family-centered pagan belief systems, tracing their gradual decline to the spread of Christianity. Fustel cites ancient Indian and Hebrew texts as well as Greek and Roman sources. The ingenuity of his interpretations, along with his striking prose style, offer readers a vital and enduring historic survey.

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1864

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About the author

Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges

138 books31 followers
Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges - or simply Fustel de Coulanges - was a French historian and professor, best known for his book La cité antique (The Antique City) published in 1864.

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Profile Image for Nathan Albright.
4,488 reviews126 followers
November 19, 2020
There are several essential problems that make this book a less successful study of ancient Greek and Roman culture than the author thinks it is. Individually, these problems would make it difficult to appreciate the book to a high level, and together they point out some real problems with history as it is often written. First, the author writes with a distinct lack of self-awareness about the relationship between the present and the past. The author writes as if modern and contemporary cities have overcome the ties between civic religion and politics (they have not) and as if humankind has decisively moved beyond issues of kinship and relating to fellow citizens (it has not), which makes modern cities less of a break from ancient cities than the author supposes. Secondly, and related to the first problem, the author views history from an evolutionary perspective that presupposes certain ancestral religious beliefs moving from a more selfish and primitive level and then moves higher, and not looking at the original monotheism of mankind that came from (rejected) divine instruction. This evolutionary view encourages the author to think of our own contemporary city as progress from the civic culture of the ancients. And related to these problems, the author drastically overestimates the love of freedom in contemporary urban culture in comparison to the freedom understood by the ancients.

This book is about 400 pages in length and is divided into five smaller "books" with numerous chapters and sections within chapters. The introduction seeks to place the book with a perspective of talking about ancient cities in the context of ancient religion as the writer understands it. After that, the first part of the book contains four chapters that discuss the author's view of ancient religious beliefs (I) in such aspects as the soul and death (1), the worship of the dead (2), the sacred fire (3), and domestic religion (4). This is followed by a lengthy discussion of the author's thoughts about ancient families (II), including the importance of family religion (1), marriage among the Greeks and Romans (2), continuity of the family (3), adoption and emancipation (4), kinship (5), the right of property (6) and succession (7), authority in the family (8), morals (9), and the gens in Rome and Greece (10). This is followed by the author's thoughts about the ancient city itself (III), with chapters on the tribe (1), supposedly new religious beliefs (2), the formation of the city (3), the city as urbs (4), the worship of city founders (5), the gods (6) and religion of the city (7), rituals and annals (8), the king of the city (9), the magistracy (10), the law of the city (11), the citizen and the stranger (12), patriotism and exile (13), the municipal spirit (14), relations between the cities and their gods (15), the Roman and the Athenian (16), and the omnipotence of the state (17), something the author views as being foreign to the present view of government. After that the author discusses revolutions (IV), including the relationships between patricians and clients (1), the plebeians (2), the seizure of power from city-kings (3), the rule of the aristocracy over the cities (4), the loss of primogeniture (5), the freedom of clients (6), the citizenship of the plebs (7), changes in private law (8), public interest and the suffrage (9), the aristocracy of wealth (10), democratic government (11) and its failure in Marxist class struggle (12) in the eyes of the author, as well as the Spartan revolutions (13). Finally, the book begins wit ha discussion of the disappearance of the municipal regime in the wake of the Roman conquest and the spread of Christianity.

When we look to the ancient city, it is a lot more alien to us than we might be first led to think. But the past is not so alien to us as the author would like to make us believe. This book is drastically full of the ideas of the author, and in this book's ample pages we get a lot of categorical statements about the life of people in ancient cities--many of them relating to matters of religion, about which the author has much to say but little to cite. Indeed, one of the most fundamentally problematic aspects of this book, and one which reduces the faith that the reader should have in this book's contents, is that the author has so much to say of such a dogmatic nature about issues of religion, most of which appear to come from the author's ideas about ancient Indo-European religious beliefs in the preliterate period, for which the author has the suppositions of himself and other historians and very little in the way of actual textual evidence. This book is more useful as a reminder of what a particular strain of historical thinking says about the past rather than an actual record of the past. Quite against the author's own hopes and expectations, his own ahistorical view of the past makes him as guilty as those contemporary writers he criticizes for seeing the past as a reflection of his own ideas rather than seeking to understand the past as it may be understood on its own terms.
Profile Image for assia.
21 reviews7 followers
September 17, 2023
ان اعدام الفيلسوف الشهير سقراط في مدينة اثينا من مظاهر ردع الهجوم على عادات و معتقدات الاسلاف .. فما كانت نوعية تلك العقائد؟

  ~ ديانة الموتى ~
في قديم الزمان
عند الاغريق و الرومان
عبد الانسان اسلافه الاموات
و أعد لهم القرابين و الاضحية
لذلك يعتبر الموت اول الأسرار
هو الذي وضع الانسان
الى البحث ما وراء الطبيعة
من المرئي الى الخفي
من البشري الى الالهي

~ الاسرة ~
تصور الانسان عن الالهة
كان الحجر الذي بنيت عليه الاسرة
فالاب هو رئيس العبادة و حارس آلهته
المكلف بإعداد القرابين و اشعال الموقد
كما كان بيت الاسرة هو المعبد
يدفن فيه الاسلاف
و يشعل فوق مقابرهم الموقد
هجران الاسرة ...
يعني الخروج عن المجتمع
و التنازل عن الحق في العبادة

~ الحكم السياسي ~
تبعية الاغريق و الرومان
حيال آلهتهم كانت مطلقة
فالديانة خلقت المَلِك في المدينة
كما خلقت رئيس الاسرة في البيت
و بدون المَلِك لا يقبل اي قربان و لا دعاء
... حتى خلال قرون عديدة
لم يكن للملوك جيوش و لا قوة مالية
كانت عقيدتهم لها سلطانها على النفوس
بحيث لم يكن يتصور اي فرد العصيان و التمرد

~ القانون ~
لم يولد القانون من فكرة العدالة
بل الصلة الدينية بين الرجلين
هي التي تحدد صلة الحق بينهما
ان لم تكن لهما عبادة نفس الموقد
فإنه لا يوجد بينهما اي صلة شرعية
و حقوق المواطن تستمد من عبادة الآلهة
ان تنازل عن العبادة .. تنازل عن حقوقه

في ظل هذه الذهنية بنيت المدن الاغريقية و الرومانية القديمة. وقد بقيت آثار تلك الديانة راسخة عدة اجيال متتالية. حتى ان تغييرها كان بطيئ للغاية و تشوبه الفوضى و بعض الاحيان الانحطاط.

~ هذه نبذة عن كتاب "المدينة العتيقة" الذي يقدم فيه الكاتب معلومات مهمة عن كيفية نهوض و سقوط العقائد و الحضارات القديمة .. و مدى تأثير الديانة على نفسية البشر و تحريكها لكافة شؤونهم الخاصة و العامة.
Profile Image for Yann.
1,410 reviews368 followers
February 25, 2015


La Cité Antique est un livre d'histoire grecque et romaine en parallèle, dont le fil conducteur est l'évolution des rapports entre la religion et l'état. Ce qui se dessine, c'est, selon la thèse de Fustel De Coulanges, une apparition 'naturelle' de la religion qu'il imagine et déduit à travers les rites les plus anciens, puis il pose comme principe que ces idées religieuses ont dicté les règles politiques de propriété, de règlement des cité, qu'elles en sont la source. Créés et accaparées par les seuls riches et puissants, ces règles religieuses antiques perdent peu à peu de leur importance à mesure que les pauvres gagnent des droits, jusqu'à ce qu'après un cycle de révolutions, le Christianisme sépare définitivement la religion de l’État, et mette un terme aux révolutions et aux malheurs en réconciliant riches et pauvres, demandant à tous de ne plus tant se préoccuper du confort de cette vie que celle d'une autre, hypothétique. Voici, en grandes lignes, la thèse de Fustel de Coulanges qui est grosso modo une apologie du Christianisme.

Je n'ai pas vraiment appris grand chose que je ne susse déjà au travers de la lecture directe des œuvres des anciens. Ce qui me semble caractériser ce livre, c'est que De Coulange a l'esprit de système: il a une idée, rassemble les sources littéraires qui appuient sa thèse, suppose que les éléments qui auraient pu prouver ce qu'il tire de son imagination, tait les témoignages qui pourraient nuancer sérieusement son point de vue, voir l'invalider, et avance vers son but avec l'inexorabilité d'une machine. Quand il termine par Le père perdit l’autorité absolue que son sacerdoce lui avait autrefois donnée, et ne conserva que celle que la nature même lui confère pour les besoins de l’enfant. La femme, que le vieux culte plaçait dans une position inférieure au mari, devint moralement son égale., j'ai envie de tousser. Cette égalité morale venait surtout remplacer l'égalité légale que l'évolution des mœurs avaient consacré bien avant que le nom de chrétien ne soit entendu par qui que ce soit. Pareil pour "Le droit de propriété fut transformé dans son essence ; les bornes sacrées des champs disparurent ; la propriété ne découla plus de la religion, mais du travail ". Ouais, du travail des esclaves? Elle découlait plutôt du droit, celui qui avait la force de se faire appliquer. Bref, cette lecture religieuse me parait irénique, partielle et partiale.

Enfermer schématiquement l'histoire dans des règles logiques ne m'a jamais vraiment convaincu, quoique je salue et respecte le travail abattu, et que je comprenne la satisfaction que peut donner l'illusion d'avoir percé ses secrets. Mais j’attendrais beaucoup plus d'un examen qui embrasse moins de généralités, expose mieux le contexte, se concentre plus sur l'exactitude et laisse surtout mieux entrevoir la part de doute et d'ignorance. En ce sens, même si son livre peut se targuer d'une grande clarté, quoiqu'il y ait beaucoup de redites, il faut peut-être le lire aussi avec circonspection. Enfin, cela ne l'empêche pas d'être intéressant et éclairant, car il expose sur ces matières de nombreux faits éparpillés chez les anciens, et que l'on trouvera recueillis en un seul et même endroit.

Le texte:
http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/La_Cit%...
Profile Image for Ryan (Glay).
113 reviews32 followers
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July 22, 2021
WOW! JUST WOW! I have never really thought that I completely understood the evolution of Greek and Roman religious beliefs, to me their polytheisms and ideas of the afterlife have always seemed very disjointed and their rationale bewildering. I just have never really read anything that made me understand what was the driving impetus for their beliefs ... That is until reading this book ... Coulanges does an Amazing job at tracing the distant ancesteral burial beliefs of heroes, ancestors and the primordial flame to more developed polytheistic beliefs and then eventually Christianity ... Also he connects how all of these developing ancient religious beliefs influenced how the Ancients viewed and gradually changed the politics of their respective cities ... I truly have never read anything that made me see the connections of all these ancient ideas over and across the entire history of Greek and Roman Antiquity, truly Amazing and a REAL valuable and informative eye-opener

I only wonder what kind of criticisms the author might have received from contemporary Roman and Gree scholars since this book was written in the 1860s? He seems to suggest linking connections between Indo-European beliefs and those of the Mycenean Greeks to those of the Dark Age Greeks? (I wonder what evidence since the 1860s has come to light that might put that in disrepute?)
- One that pops to mind is in the Odyssey how Odyesseus meets Achilles in the underworld as the ruler of Hades? .... Since the scholarly opinion is Homer wrote the Odyssey sometime in the 700s BC were Greek beliefs about the afterlife already in transformation in the 700? Since Coulanges says the original ideas of the afterlife were that ancestors and heroes became Gods of the Tombs (if the proper offerings were given) and didn't go to a seprate afterlife world ... were these beliefs already in transition by the 700sBC (I might just be mixing up the timelines since Coulanges in certain parts isnt very clear when the major/gradual changes to religious and afterlife beliefs were happening especially the change from Ancesteral/Burial offering worship to More developed Polytheistic Gods with distinct afterlife worlds)
Profile Image for Gyoza.
231 reviews9 followers
August 8, 2016
I would give this book 6 or 7 stars if I could, but on Goodreads we are limited to 5, so 5 it is. This is a great exposition of the religious beliefs of the ancient Greeks and Romans and how that shaped the way they lived, their ideas, their government, and the culture they developed. When we think of Greek and Roman religion, we immediately think of gods like Zeus, Athena, Apollo, and Venus and such, but de Coulanges goes even further back than that, to the domestic gods that were the dead ancestors of each family, and that protected only that family and their property so long as the living members of the family faithfully carried out the proper rites and sacrifices and owned the property on which their tombs were located. Apparently, this ancestor worship was a religion the ancient Greeks and Romans shared with the Hindus and dates back to their common roots before the different groups diverged and migrated out to India and to Europe. As their beliefs and worldview changed, so did Greco-Roman culture change, giving rise to the Greek and Italian city states that later consolidated into the Roman Empire. In the last chapter, de Coulanges provides a brief outline of how radically Christianity changed the culture and outlook of the Roman Empire and why it brought an end to the ancient conception of the city.

This book is invaluable for those with an interest in the history of ancient Greece and Rome, those who are planning to read the classics and want to understand the mindset of the authors better, and those who want to see how a religion, or cultus, can shape the culture and civilization of a people. De Coulanges's purpose in writing it was to show how different the worldview of the ancient Greeks and Romans was from our own, to prevent the common mistake of believing the ancients to be too much like ourselves.
Profile Image for JoséMaría BlancoWhite.
310 reviews44 followers
May 26, 2016
Este libro es una maravilla. Quizás no atractivo a primera vista; quizás no tiene el título más atrayente para el lector medio, pero es una joya para todo aquel interesado en la historia antigua y en las formas de vida de nuestros antepasados. No es solamente una descripción de las formas de gobierno que se dieron los fundadores de Grecia y Roma y sus inmediatos herederos, sino un análisis muy claro y entretenido de las formas de pensar que guiaban a aquellas personas. Los motivos que movían a las personas para agruparse, partiendo de familias, en grupos cada vez más amplios y la evolución de esos motivos que conllevaban, a su vez, la evolución de las sociedades en las que residían, es el amplio cuadro que nos detalla de forma muy amena este autor ya clásico.

Vemos que la religión era ese factor aglutinador de los grupos humanos en clanes, tribus y, finalmente, en ciudades. Pero lo interesante es ver la evolución, las circunstancias imprevistas o nuevas que la sociedad no había tenido necesidad de afrontar hasta el momento y que ponen en un dilema a las aristocracias del momento. Ver cómo se miden en una balanza las fuerzas revolucionarias de unos contra las fuerzas conservadoras de los otros es lo que realmente llama la atención. Lo capta bien el autor cuando se pregunta: ¿Cuál podía ser esa nueva aristocracia? Eliminada la religión hereditaria, ya no hubo otro elemento de distinción social que la riqueza.

Si un libro es importante es porque es relevante a pesar del paso de muchos años. Es el caso de este libro; nos planteamos muy vivamente hoy día la misma pregunta, ¿la riqueza sigue siendo, como en la República de Roma, el factor determinante a la hora de determinar la condición de vida más probable de los miembros de la sociedad? ¿Y por cuánto tiempo más seguirá siéndolo? ¿Se avista algún otro factor en un futuro cercano que pueda hacerle competencia, o algún cambio en el papel de la riqueza a la hora de moldear nuestras sociedades? Yo me aventuro a vaticinar que serán quienes posean la información (o quienes puedan definir lo que es y no es información) los nuevos aristócratas de nuestras sociedades. Un libro valioso. Este Coulanges seguramente fue un gran profesor y sus alumnos unos privilegiados de escucharlo.
Profile Image for Titiaan.
87 reviews2 followers
July 30, 2023
This book was recommended by Marc Andreessen. He described it as, "the single best book I have found on who we are and how we got here."

The book was written in 1864 by a French academic. He observes that Europeans at the time saw Greek and Roman society, culture, and institutions as an example to emulate. He says that's wrong, because the origins of those societies were very different than the reality of today's society.

He explains that those societies were based on the "domestic religion", which refers to honoring the deceased paternal line. The family was organized around this religion, meaning that it wasn't the genetic bond that counted, but honoring the same deceased paternal line. (The difference being that women, after they were married, would honor their new family's paternal line; and orphans, after they were adopted, would honor the adopted paternal line.) Since the domestic religion was practiced at or near the grave of the deceased, this also led to the rise of property rights.

Over time, religion expanded into multiple families honoring other gods in phytra, tribes, and eventually cities.

This was a surprisingly readable book given it was written by an academic more than 150 years ago. The books goes directly to great sources: Thucydides, Ovid, Dante, Plutarch, Cicero, etc. It was packed with interesting insights, such as the origin of property rights.
Profile Image for Marks54.
1,423 reviews1,177 followers
February 28, 2024
This is a classic 19th century piece of French history about the early social structure, religion, and government of cities in classical antiquity - in particular in Ancient Greece and during Roman rule. In terms of timing, this is very ancient material, bordering more on anthropology and archaeology than on detailed records driven history. For example, if one is reading Livy, especially the first five books that discuss the Kings and the early republic, then the social structures, religions, legal environment, and the like detailed by Fustel de Coulanges were all in the midst of significant change (called revolutions in the book) and new arrangements were developing that reflected current social dynamics, such as between the patricians and the plebes.

If one has tried to read Livy or Greek histories, such as Thucydides, it would not be unreasonable to ask how these societies worked and worked as well as they did. “The Ancient City” provides some details for these questions and makes it easier to get a sense of what antiquity must have been like. This is a very detailed work, however, and there is much to process. It is a fun book to read, if a bit on the long side. Hannah. Arendt made numerous references to “The Ancient City” in the course of her book “On the Human Condition”. That is what prompted me to read this.
Profile Image for Oakley Merideth.
164 reviews15 followers
August 20, 2022
The first portion of this book, on the Ancient Beliefs and the Ancient Family were fantastic and novel. I truly was quite unaware of these radical (as in root) theological notions, their broader implications, and the author's command and style was refreshing for a historian. He realized these ideas were relatively obscure but held profound implications for our view of the primordial Classical world. The original structure and religion of the classical world was not so much social as utterly familial and intimate.

But then this tome turns into "Captain Obvious" cum Laurence Olivier. If you have ever read ANY Greek or Roman classics (The Iliad or The Aeneid or The Orestia or Plutarch or Suetonius) then you know EVERYTHING else this guy has to say. He takes what is utterly explicit and expected and pretends that his "insights" are heretofore unknown and positively earth shattering. After the first two (short) sections, when he is NOT repeating himself ad infinitum (so much so that the phrase "we have already seen" eventually shows up about every three pages) he makes grandiloquent declarations about what is most banal and transparent. Case in point:

"Human association was a religion; its symbol was a meal, of which they partook together. We must picture to ourselves of of these little primitive societies, all assembled, or the heads of the families at least, at the same table, all clothed in white with a crown upon his; all make the libation together, recite the same prayer, sing the same hymns, and eat the same food prepared upon the same altar; in their midst their ancestors are present, and the protecting gods share the meal. Neither interest, nor agreement, nor habit creates the social bond; it is this holy communion piously accomplished in the presence of the gods of the city."

So, basically...EVERY SINGLE RELIGION IN EVERY SINGLE EPOCH OF HISTORY IN EVERY SINGLE LOCALE WHERE HUMAN BEINGS EXIST! Was he not even AWARE of what religion IS? He acts as if he "discovered" some connection between "sharing meals" and "communion!" For God's sake, the verb "religare" is Latin for "to bind." After this he has an entire section where he painfully explains that ancient calendars were "religious" (oh my!) and then makes the point that "ancient people didn't value individual liberty" (yes, duh). There's also the old saw thrown in about how "Catholics and Orthodox worship Saints and that's just like the gods!" Yes, of course, VENERATING saints (actual human beings that existed and were more often than not tortured to death by political authorities for not abandoning their sincere beliefs) is EXACTLY THE SAME as lighting incense at an altar for a god/guy/metaphor who disguised himself as a cow and raped a woman. THE SAME THING! The people who promulgate this idea must be convinced that ducks and trout are ultimately identical because they spend time in water.

Perhaps I don't "get it" and there is something "more" here but unless you are an exceedingly ignorant person (who probably would have no interest in this subject matter as is) you've read Homer and Virgil and Ovid and Sophocles. And if you HAVEN'T read them WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WASTING TIME FOR?!

Oddly enough I now see that Imperium put out a special "abridgment" as it were which ONLY contains the "Ancient Family." I probably should have just bought and read that instead!
Profile Image for D.M. Dutcher .
Author 1 book47 followers
November 30, 2012
You wouldn't think a book about the religious system of early Greeks and Romans and how it related to government would be so interesting.

Fustel has an interesting thesis. According to him we tend to romanticize the Greeks and Romans along rationalist lines, while neglecting the fact that not only were the mass of them following ancient religions, those religions were the basis of their laws. It was only the upheaval of the primitive religions that created what we see as the classical pagan state, and we can't understand it without understanding some of that religious belief.

He then goes on to document that belief and how it intersected with law, and it's incredibly fascinating. The earliest belief was about how the soul was still tied to its body after death. This sparked the idea of private property, since you couldn't easily move the dead, and each family had obligations to placate their dead through offerings or risk them turning malignant. The early religious idea of worshiping the family's gods was the basis not only for marriage, but reproducing, since only the male heir of the father could continue to uphold the rites. It's very detailed and interesting, because it's such an alien mindset.

He then goes on to show how successive governments enshrined the old religion, and over time dethroned each of its axioms. The book ends with the introduction of Christianity. It's engrossing despite an arcane subject, and even now you can see elements of the old religion in us. Putting flowers on top of a grave today is eerily close to the old offerings of food to the dead back then, and he compares the old, local gods of then to the near-worship of Catholic saints by some today.

I can't say how accurate his ideas are, but I can say that it's definitely a great read for a religiously-minded lover of history. I'm not even all that interested in Greek or Roman history but I enjoyed the book very much.
2 reviews1 follower
December 14, 2016
The book is a must read in order to understand Roman and Greek cultures. All the oddities we found in these cultures can be explained by the way they thought. Their set of values becomes logical, I wish I would have read it when I was little.

The book's structure is simple, anyone can understand it. For westerners, the ancient ideas will sound very familiar and they will get to see the logic behind habits they take for granted in modern times.

Religion and it's evolution are at the core of family values, justice and statesmanship. Old religious believes are still powerful even if so much time has passed. You will be surprised to see that some of these believes are still at the base of the modern western way of life.
Profile Image for Cristian Necșulescu.
30 reviews1 follower
February 20, 2021
Exquisite.
(When the conductor Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges takes the upper hand, and the magic stick, the Marxists, the feminists, the preface authors (of this edition), and pretty much everyone else left out take the knee and listen to the operatic ancestors' anthemic anthem).
Profile Image for Honk Honkerson.
25 reviews28 followers
July 7, 2021
Proto-Indo-European religiosity. Religion as a catalyst for private property and public law. Amazing stuff, makes me love Europe more. A book that will not be fairly summarised by me.

Where my Moldbug nibbers at?
43 reviews2 followers
March 15, 2024
Fascinating anthropological analysis of the foundational role of familial religion in the formation of early Greco-Roman civilization based on the city. Perhaps even more interesting how Fustel de Coulanges follows the evolution of society through various populist/democratic revolutions and ultimately Christian egalitarian revolution.

Tons of takeaways and frameworks on ancient beliefs and the evolution of modern society, how religious beliefs evolved over time (family > tribe > city > universal), and how this plays into the push pull between oligarchy/populism/tyranny.
Profile Image for Jim Whitefield.
Author 7 books27 followers
June 30, 2015
This very detailed, yet easy to read, well translated work explaining the evolvement of religious beliefs and rites, along with political changes, in Greece and Rome (and India), is most interesting. I was fascinated by the devotion of family daily dedication to keeping sacred fire alight on an altar in each home. Such personal religious activity was time consuming and extensive. Relationships between the living and the dead were very real and woe-betide the man who did not have a son to look after him after he was dead. “May there be successively born of our line sons who, in all coming time, may offer us rice, boiled in milk, honey, and clarified butter.” It was the son's duty to make the libations and the sacrifices to the manes of his father and of all his ancestors. When a daughter married into another family she abandoned her father’s gods and took on the ancestor gods of the new household. Thus a male dominated society evolved and women could not inherit.

The book covers several centuries and we see the changes as they evolved in the religious and political scene over the years. We learn how eventually Rome acquired empire. It is an area I had not studied previously so I found it educational; at the same time, concise and entertaining. The language is quaint and this adds to the read.

“In the midst of the changes which took place in institutions, in manners, in religious ideas, and in laws, patriotism itself had changed its nature; and this is one of the events which contributed most to the great progress of Rome.” I was intrigued by how the Senate once worked “…nothing was more quiet, ordinarily, than these assemblies; no one spoke there, except the president, or some one whom he called upon. Orators were little heard there, and there was little discussion. More generally there was simply a vote of yes or no, and a count of the votes.”

Toward the end of the book we learn how Christianity changed the conditions of government and marked the end of ancient society. It was the end of the road from the time when “every god protected exclusively a single family or a single city, and existed only for that.” Times changed.

“We have sought to place in a clear light this social system of the ancients, where religion was absolute master, both in public and private life; where the state was a religious community, the king a pontiff, the magistrate a priest, and the law a sacred formula; where patriotism was piety, and exile excommunication; where individual liberty was unknown; where man was enslaved to the state through his soul, his body, and his property; where the notions of law and of duty, of justice and of affection, were bounded within the limits of the city; where human association was necessarily confined within a certain circumference around a pryraneum; and where men saw no possibility of founding larger societies. Such were the characteristic traits of the Greek and Italian cities during the first period of their history.”

In a radical change from the past, “Christianity changed the nature and the form of adoration. Man no longer offered God food and drink. Prayer was no longer a form of incantation; it was an act of faith and a humble petition. The soul sustained another relation with the divinity; the fear of the gods was replaced by the love of God. Christianity introduced other new ideas. It was not the domestic religion of any family, the national religion of any city, or of any race. It belonged neither to a caste nor to a corporation. From its first appearance it called to itself the whole human race.” The change is described as extraordinary and unexpected; “…we may see in the Acts of the Apostles that several of them refused at first to propagate the new doctrine outside the nation with which it had originated. These disciples thought, like the ancient Jews, that the God of the Jews would not accept adoration from foreigners…”

There is much that could be said about this book; it is full of fascinating detail and never boring in the way it is presented. If this area of history interests you, then I think you would enjoy this work very much. It seems quite unique. There are extensive footnotes and references for further study. Overall: a most enjoyable read.
Profile Image for Daniel Polansky.
Author 29 books1,196 followers
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March 31, 2016
This one was pretty fascinating, actually. The essential idea is that no one living in the modern age (although actually the book was written in the 19th century) can adequately understand the thinking of the citizens of early Classic Greece and Rome, whose lives were entirely structured around a very primitive form of Indo-Aryan ancestor worship. To Coulanges's mind, every facet of early Classical civilization needs to be explained from this fundamental core, that is to say according to sort of magical thinking about the ability of the dead to bless or curse their descendants, and a reverence for the hearh and home which is in no way symbolic but entirely concrete. All the duties and responsibilities of the citizen grew out of the initial concept of this priesthood, in which the male head of the household is the only person capable of performing the obeisances and sacrifices required to satisfy the dead. It's hard going but extremlely interesting, and to my very limited knowledge of that period of history, seems coherent, but to be blunt I am nowhere near sufficiently versed in Classical theory to know if it is still held in high regard. Anyone want to help me out on this?
60 reviews4 followers
March 4, 2020
The Ancient Greeks were strange. Their lives revolved around the patriarchal family and city/family religions. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Very fascinating book, especially considering that it serves a chiefly academic purpose and yet does not come off as pedantic nor is it filled with illegible jargon. A good book to have read before classical quest, etc. because it illustrates just how profound and dangerous certain philosophical ideas would have been in this society. It is also to read a book that sought to address what life for *everyone* was like in Grecian city-states, not just the 'citizens' of Athens.
Profile Image for Rock.
449 reviews5 followers
June 27, 2017
Remarkably well-argued cultural history of the Greco-Roman world. I really wished that there were notes placing the author's interpretations in the context of subsequent archaeological findings, since the breadth of his citations was really impressive, but ultimately his thesis that the cultural organization of Greek and Roman comes from prehistoric ancestor worship comes from a slim range of sources. Still, a convincing tale of the transformation of the city-state into the nation-state.
Profile Image for Mason Masters.
97 reviews
November 1, 2020
An absolutely delightful read. The strength of language was refreshing, but the insights into ancient culture even more so. What we see here is the evolution of religion in ancient man, and therefore the evolution of politics in ancient cities. If you want to learn something new, try this book.
Profile Image for Juan Ramírez.
8 reviews1 follower
November 17, 2021
Excelente libro. Fundamental para comprender los distintos comportamientos antropológicos en cuanto respecta a las creencias, la familia y la urbe.

Profile Image for Khalid.
108 reviews16 followers
December 5, 2020
لا يمكن لأي باحث فهم اي شئ عن التاريخ واصول الدين والمجتمع إلا بفهم المجتمعات البدائية وكيف بدأت الديانات.... وهذا الكتاب يقدم دراسة لعبادة الإغريق والرومان وشرعهم وأنظمتهم...
عبادة الموتي وكيف بدأت العبادة المنزلية، نظام الزواج وكيفية استمرار الأسرة، من تحريم للعزوبية..او ماذا يحدث اذا كانت الزوجة عقيم والتفرقة بين الابن والبنت ونظام التبني والتحرير....

كتاب من القرن التاسع عشر يشرح نظام الاسرة عند الاغريق والرومان وحقوق الملكية والإرث فالابن يرث ولكن لا ترث البنت واثر ذلك علي حالات ا��تبني حيث لم تكن الوصية معروفة في الأصل....

يجول بنا الكتاب فيتحدث عن السلطة في الاسرة - السلطة الأبوية - واخلاق الاسرة وكيف تطورت الاخوية الي الندوة ثم القبيلة...

كتاب قيم ومهم لقراء التاريخ والانثروبولوجيا...
Profile Image for Enrique.
23 reviews2 followers
January 20, 2023
Com uma linguagem simples, objetiva e direta, Coulanges criou uma obra fenomenal! Uma leitura incrível para aprendermos sobre a religião antiga e como a sociedade foi estruturada a partir das antigas crenças.
Profile Image for Jorge Andrade.
12 reviews6 followers
July 29, 2010
Si hay un libro que todo aficionado a la historia debe leer es "La ciudad antigua" de Fustel de Coulanges. Si bien es cierto es un libro extenso, su lectura es no sólo buena para alimentar nuestra erudición sino que además agrada enormemente al espíritu. El recorrido que hace Coulanges es alucinante, bellísimo con un lenguaje sutil cargada de esa hermosa erudición prístina. No es una tarea fácil, pero leyendo esta obra da la sensación de que a Coulanges no le fue difícil hacerlo.

La Ciudad Antigua nos habla de la evolución de la sociedad antigua y su organización religiosa, política y económica, nos habla de como un grupo de familias fue transformandose poco a poco en una ciudad con todo lo que ello conlleva. Coulanges atribuye como gen formador y sostenedor de la sociedad antigua a la religión.

Todo comienza con la primera etapa del mundo antiguo, cuando las diversas migraciones estaban de alguna manera más calmadas y los pueblos de la Europa mediterraneo se asentaban ya de forma casi definitiva. Aquí no había una conciencia de ciudad como un todo social, más bien se veía como la reunión de diversas familias, que eran el espacio en donde se desarrollaba el hombre.

La religión se presenta como el elemento unificador de la familia, recordemos que religión deriva del verbo latín religare que significa "unir, ligar", por lo tanto de ahí se comprende que la religión sostiene toda la estructura familiar. El conjunto de costumbres, preces, sacrificiós, festividades y otros que se hacían en honor de los antepasados fundadores de las familias, eran parte de la identidad de cada una de ellas. Toda acción, hábito o relación con otro estaba establecida por la religión y esto no debía ser quebrantado, de lo contrario podría tener efectos nefastos para la familia. La familia era dirigida por el hombre, el pater familia, pues él es el heredero y encargado de preservar dicho conjunto. Este conjunto de ordenamientos, costumbres, hábitos, en suma:la "identidad" familiar es lo que Coulanges llama gens. La dignidad y poder del pater familia se sostenía en la religión

Por otro lado, a pesar de este circulo familiar cerrado (Coulanges describe de mejor forma esta y otras etapas pero no entro en más detalles pues la idea es que lean el libro ;) )la familia se veía representada en la asamblea central por sus pater familia. Él daba su parecer con respecto a al ordenamiento de la comunidad.

Sin embargo, este mismo orden social generaba en si mismo su propia transformación, ya que la gens no consideraba a todos por igual, habían sectores sociales que quedaban al margen de esta estructura y que de a poco fueron aumentando en cantidad, generando presión a nivel religioso (no tenían una religión por lo tanto no tenía un elemento esencial de identidad)y a nivel político (no había participación política pues esta era tarea del pater familia). Los plebeyos son una ejemplo claro de esto. Aquí es donde podemos ver la generación de dos polos, el conservador que se resiste a perder su identidad, su gens, y por otro el revolucionario, que quiere cambiar el orden de las cosas en pos de una mayor justicia y participación. Diversos hitos marcan el desarrollo de esta revolución y aquí Coulanges nos llena de emoción pues relata los hecho de una manera tal, que es como si estuvieramos en presencia de ellos.

Presionado por estos cambios la sociedad se va abriendo, generando espacios de participación a quienes no lo tenían. Los "apartados" ya cuentan con el derecho legitimo a tener culto y por lo tanto comienza a gestar su propia identidad. Estos cambios también modifican la estrategia política y económica de cada civita. Expansiones, invasiones, guerras, tratados comerciales van en aumento. La religión poco a poco comienza a separarse del estado y este último comienza a regirse sólo por preceptos humanos con la consecuente inestabilidad. Pero la religión no sólo se separa del estado, sino que además, comienza a evolucionar desde sistemas cerrados a otros más abiertos y en donde pueden participar más personas. La rigidez que la había caracterizado en los primeros tiempos comienza a decaer. Aquí el cristianismo juega un papel fundamental en la transformación de la sociedad antigua, con su doctrina del amor al projimo derriba toda diferencia entre las personas y al mismo tiempo abre la puerta para que todos podamos adorar a un dios que nos ama a todos por igual.

La Ciudad Antigua es una gran obra, bella en la forma como en el contenido. Compré este libro hace unos 8 años atrás, pero no me dí el tiempo de leerlo completamente, sólo leí lo que necesitaba para el examen de historia antigua que debía rendir cuando era una aspirante a Historiador profesional. Ahora me doy cuenta de cuanto vale realmente esta obra.
Profile Image for Félix Palazuelos.
10 reviews1 follower
July 12, 2022
«La creencia es obra de nuestra imaginación, pero no somos libres de modificarla a nuestro gusto; es creación nuestra, pero no lo sabemos; es humana y la creemos divina; es efecto de nuestro poder y, sin embargo, es más fuerte que nosotros. La llevamos dentro sin poder abandonarla y siempre nos está hablando; si nos manda la obedecemos; si nos prescribe deberes, nos sometemos a ellos; y, finalmente, el hombre puede dominar la naturaleza, pero está sujeto a la fuerza de sus creencias»

La Ciudad Antigua es un excelente libro para entender cómo las creencias antiguas germinaron las sociedades antiguas: las familias, tribus, ciudades y gobiernos. El derecho se hizo acorde a la religión, y la distinción de lo bueno y lo malo siempre estaba supeditado a las creencias. Aprender cómo se desarrolló la Antigua Grecia y la Antigua Roma nos da pistas para entender cómo se desarrollará el futuro de nuestra sociedad que reemplaza el Cristianismo por nuevas creencias vertidas desde los propios Gobiernos, grandes empresas y medios de comunicación.
Profile Image for Frederick.
Author 18 books15 followers
April 4, 2016
This is one of those remarkable treasures that open up some aspect of history in a way you've never seen before. I was greatly enlightened about some things that I saw in the books of the Bible but did not understand because of the layers of commentary placed over it by teachers and preachers that was wrong in many respects. Now, ancient religion, the ancient family, and ancient polity of the Roman, Greek, Indian, and Near Eastern world make much more sense. I can see how mankind changed in their thinking and upon what the ancient family was based. This is a great eye-opening bit of historical science and art. I recommend it for anyone interested in ancient history. And just read his classical references. It is so obvious.
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