A political falling out arose at the time of the Franco-Prussian War between two of the most prominent ancient historians of the nineteenth century, Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges and Theodor Mommsen. Retracing the details of the episode...
moreA political falling out arose at the time of the Franco-Prussian War between two of the most prominent ancient historians of the nineteenth century, Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges and Theodor Mommsen. Retracing the details of the episode allows a better appreciation of what was, in historical and political terms, a very tense affair. But the engagement of these two scholars in this matter allows us to grasp, beyond their patriotic motives, how profound a difference lay between them, on the historiographical and methodological level, in their approach to the history of Rome and to the very idea of the "State".
