The analysis of the images of antiquity in M. Robespierre’s political writings during the early years of the French revolution (1789–1791)

Abstract

This research attempts to reassess the significance of the images of classical antiquity in Maximilien Robespierre’s political writings of 1789–1791 by analyzing their context, frequency, and their objectives for use and by creating statistical data to demonstrate main tendencies and patterns. It is necessary to admit that classical antiquity largely contributed to European culture by defining its basic virtues and vices and creating role models for future generations. Allusions and references to classical antiquity can be easily traced throughout European history. The French Revolution wasn’t an exception while its classical ancient traditions were clearly expressed in visual sources, political writings, and even in everyday life. It is commonly considered that the Jacobins used a large number of classical antiquity images in their political writings. We have to pay special attention to M. Robespierre as he was largely associated with the Jacobin party during the French Revolution as well as nowadays. However, the images of classical antiquity in his political writings are not regarded as an area of interest. Even if there are a few historical writings focused on this topic, they are usually concentrated on the Reign of Terror (1793–1794) while the period of the early Revolutionary years (1789–1791) is often neglected. In order to change this disproportion our research covers this very period. The results of our analysis proved the significance of the classical antiquity images in M. Robespierre’s political writings providing a set of statistical data and describing its main tendencies. It was proved that the number of references increases each year, pointing out that M. Robespierre clearly understood the differences between antiquity and his times even in the early years of the French Revolution. In addition to this, the research put forward authors’ classification of the classical antiquity images and demonstrating the predominance of some image types.