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Nicole Loraux

French historian (1943–2003)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ449223 ↗
Source-derived summary

Nicole Loraux (French: [lɔʁo]; 26 April 1943 – 6 April 2003) was a French historian of classical Athens.

Biography

Loraux was born in Paris and died in Argenteuil. She graduated in Classics at the École normale supérieure des filles (1962). In 1965, she obtained the agrégation de lettres classiques (examination equivalent to the Postgraduate Higher Education Teaching Certificate, but more competitive), before writing a PhD thesis under the supervision of Pierre Vidal-Naquet.

Her doctoral thesis Athènes imaginaire. Histoire de l'oraison funèbre athénienne et de sa fonction dans la cité classique (1977) became Loraux's best known work, The Invention of Athens: the Funeral Oration in the Classical City (Cambridge, MA 1986; New York 2006; orig. fr. Paris 1981).

Loraux was influential in the rise of gender as an important category of analysis in ancient Greek history. She has been described as a "preeminent" structuralist historian.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Nicole Loraux” as french historian (1943–2003). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Nicole, Loraux and French.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1943, 2003, 1962, 1965—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1943-04-26, 1943-01-01—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Nicole, Loraux and French providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Nicole Loraux”, the useful work is to connect “french historian (1943–2003)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q449223. VIAF identifies the subject as 94637417. The Library of Congress control number is n82011303. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1943, 2003, 1962 and 1965.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Nicole Loraux”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Nicole Loraux primary sources, Nicole Loraux archive and Nicole research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Nicole Loraux” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.