Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges Book order

The deepest and oldest layer of European religion is almost unknown today, and yet it governs all subsequent history. This is the Indo-European hearth cult, the subject of The Ancient Family. Here we get a picture of the most traditionalist, nationalist, patriarchal religion imaginable, of a people gathered around a sacred fire, worshipping its ancestors, jealous of its gods, and sufficient unto itself. Taken from books I-II of Fustel's momentous work The Ancient City, this volume can be read as a constitution of the primordial family structure, the father of all that came after it. The Studies in Reaction series collects works that challenge modernity, and this family structure is the perfect antithesis of, and remedy for, all that ails us today.

De Coulanges original study provided a historical view of how land has become property which was then translated and published in 1891 by M. Ashley, not just to bring this study to an English reader but to provide a counter argument to Agrarian Communism. This edition also contains an introductory chapter on the origin of the manor house in England. This title will be of interest to students of History.

First published in French in 1864, this groundbreaking work by Fustel de Coulanges is a seminal study of the origins of Greek and Roman civilization, focusing on the role of religion, law, and social institutions in shaping their cultures. Coulanges argues that the ancient city was a religious community, in which the worship of the gods was at the center of social life and gave rise to distinctive legal and political systems. This translated edition, with a new introduction by historian Willard Small, is an essential reading for anyone interested in the history of classical civilization.

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.