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Ancient Greece in French Historiography

Ancient Greece in French Historiography

Jean-Luc Lamboley (Université Pierre Mendès France, Grenoble II )

Nations and Nationalities in Historical Perspectives: Re-reading Antiquity, University of Pisa (2001)

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to present some aspects of ancient Greece in French historiography from the French Revolution to our times, not in an erudite perspective of only historio- graphic interest, but keeping in mind always a question of ped- agogical interest, or political interest in the noble sense of the term: the extent to which the study of ancient Greece can be useful today to all who are interested in Europe. Thus there is an underlying theme in this chapter, the notion of cit- izenship. It seems to me in fact that it is through this notion that one can best grasp the way in which France has built her relationship with Antiquity.



The French Revolution clearly marks an important time in the history of France and of Europe; and we can begin our reflection by asking ourselves what place Ancient Greece played in the imagination and in the actions of the revolutionaries. It is well to start with the Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen (Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen) of 26 August 1789, proclaimed by the representatives of the French people con- stituted in the National Assembly. The reference to Antiquity is present from the title itself: The rights of Man and of the Citizen (et du citoyen). Under the French monarchy this term had no sense because the king ruled over his people constituted by subjects; on the other hand now it was to become in the following years the official way of referring to the French, and it was consecrated by the fact that it was part of the refrain that would become the French national hymn, the Marseillaise. We must note that the constitutional project of 19 April 1946 took in its preamble the Declaration of 1789, as did later the constitution of 4 October 1958, but the term ‘citizen’ had disappeared. In the Declaration of 1789, the word ‘citizen’ is used 9 times in 17 articles; in the 1946 project only twice in 39 articles and in the definitive constitution of 27 October it is used only once (quoting the 1789 Declaration). This is certainly a point we will need to come back to: the citizen, little by little, has lost citizenship in the French constitutions.

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