Exploring Paris Study guide

1. Earliest historical dates and founding names of Paris

Paris was settled around ~250 BCE by the Parisii Celtic tribe on the Île de la Cité; after Caesar’s conquest in 52 BCE, the city’s name became Lutetia (Lutèce).

2. Architectural remnants of the Roman era in Paris

Roman Aqueduct of Lutetia; Arènes de Lutèce (Roman amphitheater); Thermes de Cluny (Roman baths).

3. Important medieval construction in Paris (12th century)

Notre‑Dame de Paris began construction in the 12th century.

4. Scary anecdote from the 15th century

Around 1450, a pack of man‑eating wolves entered Paris and were speared to death in front of Notre‑Dame.

5. Architecturally significant 16th‑century construction (bridges)

Pont Neuf — planned in the late 1500s, completed in 1607; first Paris bridge without houses and first with sidewalks.

6. Rabelais: facts about author

François Rabelais (1494–1553) was a humanist, physician, priest, and writer of Gargantua and Pantagruel.

6. Rabelais: plot points discussed in class

Gargantua sends his son to Paris for a Humanist education; Gargantua arrives, asks about scholars and wine, and humorously pees on Paris from Notre‑Dame.

6. Rabelais: overall message of excerpts

Promotes Humanist education and critiques vanity, hypocrisy, and intellectual pretension through satire and humor.

7. Paris in the 17th century: architectural additions

Expansion of the Louvre; Palais Royal; Jardin des Plantes; Place des Vosges; Place Dauphine; Pont Neuf; hospitals (Val‑de‑Grâce, Saint‑Louis); rise of hôtels particuliers.

8. Paris in the 17th century: Who is king?

Louis XIV, the Sun King, ruled most of the 17th century.

8. Paris in the 17th century: What can you tell me about him?

Absolute monarch; traumatized by La Fronde; moved the royal court permanently to Versailles; patron of arts and architecture.

9. 18th century (first part): Who is king?

Louis XV.

9. 18th century (first part): What can you tell me about him?

Initially “le Bien‑Aimé”; later unpopular; weak ruler; costly wars; supported Enlightenment thinkers through Madame de Pompadour.

10. Montesquieu: facts about author

Montesquieu was a nobleman, lawyer, scientist, and philosopher; author of The Spirit of Laws and Persian Letters.

10. Montesquieu: works discussed in class

The Spirit of Laws (1748); Persian Letters (1721).

10. Montesquieu: assigned Persian Letters (Letter 22)

Paris is huge and crowded; King is powerful and manipulates economy; Pope is even more powerful; women are denied reading the “Christian Quran.”

10. Montesquieu: Letter 26

Parisians attend theater and opera; Rica finds these pastimes lively but superficial.

10. Montesquieu: Letter 27

Rica uses Muslim terms (“Ramadan,” “dervishes”) to indirectly criticize Catholicism and avoid censorship.

10. Montesquieu: Letter 28

Parisians stare only when he wears Persian clothing; ignore him when dressed as European.

10. Montesquieu: Letter 31

Wine is dear to Parisians; considered dangerous yet irresistible.

10. Montesquieu: Letter 34

Coffeehouses where people drink coffee, argue, spread news, and play chess.

10. Montesquieu: Letter 35

Critique of lack of religious freedom and absolute power of monarch and church.

11. 18th century (second half): Who is king?

Louis XVI.

11. 18th century (second half): What can you tell me about him?

Crowned 1774; married Marie‑Antoinette; supported American Revolution, bankrupting France; indecisive; public anger rises.

12. Important events of the Revolution of 1789

July 14 — Fall of the Bastille; August 26 — Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen; October 5–6 — Women’s March on Versailles; Place Louis XV becomes Place de la Révolution.

13. Causes of the Revolution of 1789

National debt; inequality; absolutism; Enlightenment ideas; influence of American Revolution; food shortages; hatred of royal extravagance.

13. Important characters of the Revolution

Louis XVI; Marie‑Antoinette; Lafayette; Sans‑culottes; Robespierre; Marat; Poissardes; Saint Antoine (Dickens); Foulon (Dickens).