Boissier, Gaston

Marie Louis Gaston Boissier ( Boissier , Fr. Marie Louis Antoine Gaston Boissier ; 08/15/1823, Nîmes , France - 06/11/1908, Virofle near Paris) - French historian of Ancient Rome, an expert on his culture and history of early Christianity ^[2] . The author of fundamental works on the history of ancient Roman society , pagan religion and Christianity ^[3] . Member of the French Academy (1876), since 1895 its permanent secretary. Member of the French Academy of inscriptions and elegant literature (1886), corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1894).

Marie Louis Antoine Gaston Boissier
fr Marie Louis Antoine Gaston Boissier
Birth name
Date of Birth	August 15, 1823 ( 1823-08-15 )
Place of Birth	Him
Date of death	June 10, 1908 ( 1908-06-10 ) (84 years old)
Place of death	Virofle
A country	France
Scientific field	story
Place of work
Alma mater
Academic title	and
Famous students	and

He graduated from the Higher Normal School (1846) with an aggregate of literature. Doctor of Literature (1857).

He began as a professor in Angouleme , and in 1861-1906. Professor of Latin poetry, College de France . In 1865–99 also a professor at the Higher Normal School (ENS), taught Roman literature.

The author of more than 430 published works, including more than 10 monographs. His essays reveal many-sided knowledge and are presented in simple, clear and elegant language. He wrote: “Étude sur Terentius Varron” (Paris, 1859, marked by a prize); “Cicero and His Friends” (Cicéron et ses amis, 7th ed., 1884; Russian translation, M., 1880); “Roman religion from Augustus to the Antonins” (La religion romaine d'Auguste aux Antonius, 1874, 2 vols., Russian translation, M., 1878); L'opposition sous les Césars (1875, 2nd ed., 1885); “Rome et Pompée” (2nd ed., 1881); Horace et Virgile (1886); M-me de Sevigny (1887), La fin du paganisme (2 volumes, 1891) and many small articles in the Revue des Deux Mondes and Revue de l'instruction publique. With his remarkable brilliance and artistry, Boissier draws pictures of Roman life in his works. All classes of Roman citizens from the emperor, aristocrats, writers, artists, to ordinary urban inhabitants and slaves pass before the eyes of the reader as if alive, with their habits, passions and language.

As V. I. Kuzishchin notes in the SEI : “Boassier considered the root cause of historical events to be fate, providence, the outlines of which, he said, cannot be known, since“ God's intentions regarding the world are unknown to us ... ””; in the same place Kuzishchin characterizes him as "an exponent of the interests of the middle bourgeoisie, who sought analogies to capitalism in Roman society, idealizing its middle strata." It is noted that during the events in France of the second half of the XIX century. the formation of the Third Republic , Boissier became a passionate advocate of Christianity .