Paris: The 'New Rome' of Napoleon I

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Napoleon I employed a myriad of media through which to promote his propaganda and his universal hegemony. Classical Rome - home to the great Caesars - was central to his ambitious visions for the transformation of Paris into an imperial metropolis of unprecedented magnitude. Exploring the interrelationship between antiquity, the display of power and the reinvention of Paris, this volume evaluates how the Roman world and post-antique exploitations of Rome influenced Napoleonic Paris, and how Napoleon promoted his authority by appropriating Rome's triumphal architecture and its associated symbolism to relocate 'Rome' in his own times. The volume shows how consideration of Louis XIV's legacy is crucial to understanding the evolution of Napoleon's fascination with imperial Rome. It also charts Napoleon's manipulation of the populist rhetoric of Republican France (and Rome) as he moved from being a general fighting for the Revolutionary cause to become the 'absolute' ruler of a new empire.

Reviews

In [Napoleon's] early days, he was anti-Emperor. It was only after crowning himself Emperor (in 1804) that he began to sympathise with Caesar ... It is this later imperial phase that Diana Rowell explores so revealingly in her highly cogent, detailed and persuasive account of the neglected Roman side of Napoleon. -- Andy Martin, University of Cambridge, UK * International Journal of the Classical Tradition *
a guide to the rich heritage that lies behind Napoleonic Paris. Given the continued centrality in Paris of the monuments discussed by Rowell, this book should be of interest not just to specialists, but also to general readers wishing to understand more deeply the history and monuments of the city. Rowell does a marvelous job of interpreting the Napoleonic motifs found in the dense historical fabric that is the city of Paris, demonstrating convincingly that these motifs were woven from a myriad of ancient and modern threads. -- David OBrien, University of Illinois * H-France Review *

Author Bio

Dr Diana Rowell is an independent scholar. She worked at the British School at Rome before completing her doctoral study at the University of Reading, UK.