author
Gaston Boissier
1823–1908
Drawn to Roman history by the monuments of his hometown, he became one of France’s best-known interpreters of the ancient world. His books brought classical politics, religion, and everyday life to a wide audience without losing their scholarly depth.
1 Audiobook
Cicero and his friends : A study of Roman society in the time of Caesar
by Gaston Boissier
About the author
Born in Nîmes in 1823, Gaston Boissier grew up surrounded by Roman remains, an early influence that shaped his lifelong interest in antiquity. He went on to build a career as a French classical scholar, historian, and teacher, with a strong focus on ancient Rome, epigraphy, and Latin literature.
Boissier taught rhetoric while still quite young and later held major academic posts in Paris, including a chair connected with Latin literature. He became widely respected not only as a specialist but also as a writer who could make the ancient world feel vivid and human for general readers.
His reputation brought him into France’s leading learned institutions: he was elected to the Académie française in 1876, later served as its permanent secretary, and also joined the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. He died in 1908, leaving behind a body of work centered on Roman politics, religion, and society.