Fustel de Coulanges

Born in Paris on March 18, 1830, and educated at the École Normale Supérieure, Fustel de Coulanges became one of France’s most respected historians. He taught at Strasbourg and later at the Sorbonne, building a reputation for careful reading of original sources and for arguing that historians should stick closely to documented evidence.

His most famous book, The Ancient City (1864), examined the role of religion and family structure in Greek and Roman society. He later turned to early French history in works including History of the Political Institutions of Ancient France, where he argued that Roman traditions mattered more than Germanic ones in shaping medieval Europe.

Fustel de Coulanges died on September 12, 1889. Although some of his conclusions are debated today, he is still remembered as a serious and original historian whose books helped generations of readers think differently about antiquity and the making of France.