Tomás de Iriarte’s “Lección VI. Del Imperio Romano”

approaching the teaching of roman ancient history in the 18th century

Abstract

The aim of this work is to describe and analyze the work entitled Lección V. Del Imperio Romano, contained in the Lecciones instructivas, written by Tomás de Iriarte and published in 1794, in Madrid, with subsequent reeditions. Iriarte was recognized in the literary world for his Fábulas literarias, but little has been investigated of his facet as a humanist, in which the work that we analyze here is framed, which has been studied very little. In this sense, we try to contextualize this Lesson V. within the historiographic conception prevailing in the eighteenth century, with other similar texts that can help characterize this work of Iriarte, who there is no information about the sources that he could be used. Emphasis is also placed on the pedagogical purpose with which it was conceived.