Antiquity of the Italian Nation - The Cultural Origins of a Political Myth in Modern Italy, 1796-1943

Zusatztext this work is extraordinarily thorough and erudite in its exploration of nationalist discourse ... it will appeal primarily to a specialist audience, but will also be of interest to students of classical reception studies and the history of historiography. Informationen zum Autor Antonino De Francesco is Professor of Early Modern History at the Department of History, University of Milan and chercheur associé at the Institut d'Histoire de la Révolution Française, Paris I, Sorbonne. He has taught in several European institutions and is a specialist in the cultural and political history of eighteenth and nineteenth-century France and Italy, with emphasis on the French Revolution, the Risorgimento and historiography. Klappentext This book explores the political uses of Italy's antique past in the early nineteenth century, tracing how anti-romanism was transformed into a pillar of the nation-building process. It demonstrates the pivotal role played by this ancient heritage in the formation of modern Italian national identity. Zusammenfassung With Italy under Napoleonic rule at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the antiquarian topic of anti-romanism became a pillar of the Italian nation-building process and, in turn, was used against the dominant French culture. The history of the Italian nation predating the Roman Empire supported the idea of an Italian cultural primacy and proved crucial in the creation of modern Italian nationalism. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Italian studies of Roman history would drape a dark veil over the earliest history of Italy while Fascism openly claimed the legacy of the Roman Empire. Italic antiquity would, however, remain alive through all those years, intersecting with the political and cultural life of modern Italy. In this book, De Francesco examines the different uses of the constantly reasserted antiquity of the Italian nation in history, archaeology, palaeoethnology, and anthropology from the Napoleonic period to the collapse of Fascism....

Product details

• Authors: Antonino De Francesco, Antonino (Professor of Early Modern De Francesco, Antonino (Professor of Early Modern History De Francesco, De Francesco Antonino
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 12.09.2013
• EAN: 9780199662319
• ISBN: 978-0-19-966231-9
• No. of pages: 278
• Series: Classical Presences; Classical Presences
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Antiquity; Italien, Europäische Geschichte, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, HISTORY / Modern / General, HISTORY / Ancient / General, Regional & national history, HISTORY / World, History - General History, HISTORY / Europe / Italy, Italy, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Ancient History, Classical history / classical civilisation, General and world history, Ancient history: to c 500 CE, BCE to c 500 CE, BCE period – Protohistory