THE SPIRIT OF FEAR: ROME AND ABSOLUTISM

Authors

  • Adilton Luís Martins Federal University of São Paulo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31669/herodoto.v1i1.40

Keywords:

Montesquieu, Roman Republic, Oriental Despotism, Roman Empire, The Spirit of the Laws.

Abstract

This article affirms that Enlightenment philosopher Montesquieu produced a historical and political theory based on the history of Rome. The main focus of this text is the association contained in the idea of a similarity between the Roman Empire and Oriental Despotism. For Montesquieu, corruption destroyed the spirit of freedom and virtue of the Roman Republic and founded an empire based on fear, which is the principle of despotism. The main source of analysis here is the book The spirit of the laws. 

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Author Biography

  • Adilton Luís Martins, Federal University of São Paulo
    Graduate at Filosofia from Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas (2002) and master's at History from Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (2007). Has experience in History, focusing on Old and Medieval History, acting on the following subjects: filosofia da história, história antiga, epistemologia da história, filosofia do direito and história do direito moderno.

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Published

2026-03-30

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2016): Dossiê:O MUNDO CLÁSSICO E SUAS CONEXÕES AFRO-ASIÁTICAS

Section

Dossier

License

Copyright (c) 2017 Adilton Luís Martins

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication.

The works are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, including for commercial purposes, provided proper attribution is given.

Full license text: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

How to Cite

THE SPIRIT OF FEAR: ROME AND ABSOLUTISM. (2026). Heródoto: Revista Do Grupo De Estudos E Pesquisas Sobre a Antiguidade Clássica E Suas Conexões Afro-asiáticas, 1(1), 195-227. https://doi.org/10.31669/herodoto.v1i1.40