Le doux nom de liberté : histoire d'une idée politique dans la Rome antique

This exploration of the idea of liberty in Ancient Rome locates itself where politics and literature flow together in a field which we might call political culture; indeed, the statement that such or such action brought about citizens' freedom, or gave it back to them, or even preserved it, runs repeatedly through literary sources after Caesar's death. 

Far from a theoretical definition, ancient writers of history, philosophy, poetry or rhetoric give liberty a key role; now, as these texts recalled the history of Rome and the moment that advanced the cause of liberty, namely the fall of the monarchy and the establishment of the republic, we consider here a period of more than eight centuries in order to see this idea of freedom being displayed up until the second century AD, through its successive changes as well as through particular characters or symbolic places.