Paul Veyne

"[Veyne's] present book has some kinship with his sprightly theoretical work Comment on ecrit l'histoire; and he declares that its aim was to provoke reflection on the way our conception of truth is built up and changes over the centuries. . . . The style is brilliant and exhilarating."—Jasper Griffin, Times Literary Supplement

An Essay on the Constitutive Imagination

Did the Greeks Believe in Their Myths?

L'objet réel de ce texte est de montrer que la question qu'il pose, en dernière instance, n'a pas de sens. C'est que la poser est implicitement se ranger dans la descendance de Fontenelle et des hommes du siècle des Lumières, confrontant les dits avec les faits. Mais, précisément, cette question-là n'a pas de sens pour un ancien ; et, comme l'a montré Foucault, la vérité elle-même est historique. Autrement dit, l'idée de vérité a évolué. Paul Veyne compare volontiers la vérité d'un moment à un récipient ou, plus abstraitement, à un programme : c'est dans le cadre du programme que la question : est-ce vrai ? est-ce faux ? se pose. Quant au récipient-programme, il est lui-même le fait d'une création. Enfin, il ne serait pas juste de penser qu'en un même moment, tous ont le même programme de vérité, voire que chez un même sujet n'est mis en œuvre qu'un programme (on peut ne pas croire au fantôme et néanmoins en avoir horriblement peur). Telle est l'arête intellectuelle de ce livre, donnée par approches successives au long d'une investigation sur les textes les plus divers : d'Aristote et Pausanias à Cicéron et Eusèbe.

essai sur l'imagination constituante

Les Grecs ont-ils cru à leurs mythes?

أزمة المعرفة التاريخية

Et dans l'éternité je ne m'ennuierai pas 

História da Vida Privada, Vol. 1

María José Furió

Prólogo de Lucien Jerphagnon

Sexo y poder en Roma

"Né en 1930 dans le Midi de la France, dans un milieu presque populaire, je suis professeur honoraire d'histoire romaine au Collège de France. Je me suis marié trois fois, comme Cicéron, César et Ovide. J'ai été membre du Parti communiste dans ma jeunesse et j'ai écrit des livres sur des sujets divers. Je vis depuis longtemps dans un village de Provence, au pied du mont Ventoux." Souvenirs d'une traversée du siècle, promenade dans l'Antiquité, réflexions profondes et anecdotes savoureuses, souvent émouvantes, récits d'expériences personnelles parfois douloureuses émaillent ce beau livre qui est comme l'aboutissement d'une vie hors norme. Paul Veyne, le grand historien de Rome qui a bousculé tant d'idées reçues, s'y montre tour à tour facétieux, grave, indifférent à l'opinion d'autrui. Avide de culture et de poésie, détaché du monde académique, il préfère à la société des hommes la contemplation des nuages.

souvenirs

Et dans l'éternité je ne m'ennuierai pas

l'amour, la poésie et l'Occident

L'élégie érotique romaine

`Foucault is well-known as one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. Writing from his profound knowledge of the man. Paul Veyne vividly brings out his character and personality.' Geoffrey Lloyd, University of Cambridge It is fascinating to follow Paul Veyne's engagement with Foucault: he was extremely close to Foucault, as the celebrated history of sexuality developed as a project, and this essay, which mixes reminiscences with argument and reflection. captures a real flavour of the intellectual excitement of those times.' Simon Goldhill, University of Cambridge Michel Foucault and Paul Veyne: the philosopher and the historian. Two major figures in the world of ideas, resisting all attempts at categorization. Two timeless thinkers who have long walked and fought together. In this short book Paul Veyne offers a fresh portrait of his friend and relaunches the debate about his ideas and legacy. `Foucault is not who you think he is', writes Veyne: he stood neither on the left nor on the right and was frequently disowned by both. He was not so much a structuralist as a sceptic, an empiricist disciple of Montaigne, who never ceased in his work to reflect on `truth games', on singular, constructed truths that belonged to their own time. A unique testimony by a scholar who knew Foucault well, this book succeeds brilliantly in grasping the core of his thought and in stripping away the confusions and misunderstandings that have so often characterized the interpretation of Foucault and his work.

His Thought, His Character

Foucault

La remise en cause d'un certain nombre d'idées reçues à propos de la société romaine. L'auteur traite, par exemple, des avantages et même de la nécessité d'être esclave, du mépris de l'idée d'économie.

La société romaine

Located northeast of Damascus, in an oasis surrounded by palms and two mountain ranges, the ancient city of Palmyra has the aura of myth. According to the Bible, the city was built by Solomon. Regardless of its actual origins, it was an influential city, serving for centuries as a caravan stop for those crossing the Syrian Desert. It became a Roman province under Tiberius and served as the most powerful commercial center in the Middle East between the first and the third centuries CE. But when the citizens of Palmyra tried to break away from Rome, they were defeated, marking the end of the city’s prosperity. The magnificent monuments from that earlier era of wealth, a resplendent blend of Greco-Roman architecture and local influences, stretched over miles and were among the most significant buildings of the ancient world—until the arrival of ISIS. In 2015, ISIS fought to gain control of the area because it was home to a prison where many members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood had been held, and ISIS went on to systematically destroy the city and murder many of its inhabitants, including the archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad, the antiquities director of Palymra. In this concise and elegiac book, Paul Veyne, one of Palymra’s most important experts, offers a beautiful and moving look at the history of this significant lost city and why it was—and still is—important. Today, we can appreciate the majesty of Palmyra only through its pictures and stories, and this book offers a beautifully illustrated memorial that also serves as a lasting guide to a cultural treasure.

An Irreplaceable Treasure

Palmyra

MARCOS DE CASTRO

Neste livro Paul Veyne explica a formação do cristianismo sem passar pelo pensamento determinista. O historiador francês sustenta a tese de que o desenvolvimento do cristianismo, inicialmente uma religião minoritária, não aconteceu por contingências sociais e políticas de uma época, mas pelo desejo de um indivíduo, Constantino, convertido, torná-la a religião de seu império.

Paul Veyne ; tradução de Marcos de Castro

Quando nosso mundo se tornou cristão

This short book by one of France's leading historians deals with a big question: how was it that Christianity, that masterpiece of religious invention, managed, between 300 and 400 AD, to impose itself upon the whole of the Western world? In his erudite and inimitable way, Paul Veyne suggests three possible explanations. Was it because a Roman emperor, Constantine, who was master of the Western world at the time, became a sincere convert to Christianity and set out to Christianize the whole world in order to save it? Or was it because, as a great emperor, Constantine needed a great religion, and in comparison to the pagan gods, Christianity, despite being a minority sect, was an avant-garde religion unlike anything seen before? Or was it because Constantine limited himself to helping the Christians set up their Church, a network of bishoprics that covered the vast Roman Empire, and that gradually and with little overt resistance the pagan masses embraced Christianity as their own religion? In the course of deciding between these explanations Paul Veyne sheds fresh light on one of the most profound transformations that shaped the modern world - the Christianization of the West. A bestseller in France, this book will appeal to a wide readership interested in history, religion and the rise of the modern world.

312 - 394

When Our World Became Christian

First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Life of a Stoic

Seneca

The great stoic philosopher, playwright and Roman statesman of the first century, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, exercised enormous influence for nearly fifteen years as tutor and political advisor to the Emperor Nero until forced to commit suicide by his former pupil. In the hands of Annales School historian Paul Veyne, the dramatic story of his life - one of power, politics and intrigue - becomes a mirror of the time in which he lived. Seneca's philosophical writings remain our core source for stoic thought, and their immense influence continues to be felt. Veyne's authoritative exposition of stoicism and the interconnections between Seneca's life and thought, make this book ideal reading for anyone interested in Roman history and philosophy. This compact and compelling book is a brilliant introduction to the life and philosophy of one of the ancient world's greatest thinkers by one of the great historians of our own time.

Dopo aver conquistato nel maggio del 2015 la città siriana di Palmira, conosciuta come la «Venezia di sabbia» per le sue straordinarie bellezze artistiche, i miliziani dell’Isis intraprendono un’imponente campagna di distruzione di una delle più preziose aree archeologiche del mondo. La notizia fa immediatamente scalpore, e la barbarie raggiunge il culmine con la decapitazione di Khaled al-Asaad, il responsabile del sito che ha eroicamente tentato di difendere quell’inestimabile patrimonio. A distanza di quasi un anno, la città è stata finalmente liberata da quella furia devastatrice, ma resta esposta alle devastazioni di una feroce guerra tra fazioni. Ma perché l’arte è il nemico dei nuovi terroristi? E perché proprio Palmira? Nel suo magistrale racconto, Paul Veyne ripercorre la storia di questo nodo urbano dove si sono succeduti popoli e civiltà e che fu teatro della illuminata corte della mitica regina Zenobia, firmando un commovente manifesto di rivendicazione dei valori della convivenza e del multiculturalismo.

Paul Veyne

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