Event Title
Classical References in the Révolutions de Paris and the Rise of Republicanism, June-September 1791
Location
Science Center, A255
Document Type
Presentation
Start Date
4-27-2012 1:30 PM
End Date
4-27-2012 2:30 PM
Abstract
Historians have long assumed that French Revolutionaries invoked Antiquity as a model to imitate. Two major rival schools, the “Marxist” and the “Revisionist,” base their interpretation of the revolution in part on this assumption, but few have investigated it. This study examines the significance of classical references made by one periodical, the Révolutions de Paris, in the aftermath of the king’s flight and concludes that in this case, revolutionaries did not invoke Antiquity to imitate it, but to give legitimacy to the burgeoning republican movement.
Recommended Citation
Levin, Suzanne, "Classical References in the Révolutions de Paris and the Rise of Republicanism, June-September 1791" (04/27/12). Senior Symposium. 32.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/seniorsymp/2012/presentations/32
Major
French; History
Advisor(s)
Matthew Senior, French
Ellen Wurzel, History
Project Mentor(s)
Leonard Smith, History
April 2012
Classical References in the Révolutions de Paris and the Rise of Republicanism, June-September 1791
Science Center, A255
Historians have long assumed that French Revolutionaries invoked Antiquity as a model to imitate. Two major rival schools, the “Marxist” and the “Revisionist,” base their interpretation of the revolution in part on this assumption, but few have investigated it. This study examines the significance of classical references made by one periodical, the Révolutions de Paris, in the aftermath of the king’s flight and concludes that in this case, revolutionaries did not invoke Antiquity to imitate it, but to give legitimacy to the burgeoning republican movement.
Notes
Session I, Panel 4: History in Fragments: Icons, Ornamentation, and Imitation in Western Europe
Moderator: Erik Inglis, Associate Professor of Art History
Full text thesis available here.