Sinopse: In A cidade antiga (Old city), Fustel de Coulanges tries to rebuild the origins of life in society with the ancient Greeks and Romans. Through systematic research, the author searches the primary of what became conventional to call city in modern times, that would have motivated people to gather in a society, with principles and common goals. The study of India and other ancient societies such as the Chinese and the Native North-Americans, they reveal the first bond existent was the religion, the service to the dead. From the service to the dead and the ancestors, gods from the nature would come ,and later, the single Catholic God, spreading even more the social bonds. The end of the religion connection as a necessity of a society formation created the revolution of the class struggle. According to the author, the new foundation for people to get together became the group of laws, with rights and institutions, such as rights and warranties for the citizens. As it is until today in most societies.
