The scholarly contributions which form volume 7 analyse principally the sociological aspects of the hymn in antiquity, inasmuch as this ultimate form of praise, which partakes more of a social rite than a literary genre, represents, form its origins to the Christian era, a collective celebration of people and objects by communities or groups which are both religious and civic. While there exist many studies of the place of the hymn in ancient literature, no synthetic work had yet chosen to unite ? from a comparative and critical stance ? all of antiquity in its component parts of Egypt, the Orient, Greece, Rome and Byzantium. What is more, the colloquium dealt also with the survival of ancient hymnic forms into the Renaissance and the 17th century. It was indeed proper to highlight the continuity, over and against the divide between Christianity and paganism, of a poetical-encomiastic tradition glorifying superior beings. The result of a colloquium organized by the Universities of Strasbourg and Naples, The Ancient Hymn and its Audience is an ordered approach originating from a varied investigation of the permanence of a phenomenon into modern times. Les contributions scientifiques au volume 7 visent a analyser principalement la dimension sociologique de l?hymne dans l?Antiquite ? tant il est vrai que cette forme supreme d?eloge qui constitue un rite social plutot qu?un genre litteraire ressortit, depuis les origines jusqu?a l?epoque chretienne, a une celebration collective de personnes et de choses par des communautes ou des groupes aussi bien religieux que civiques. Car, s?il existe bon nombre d?etudes consacrees a l?hymne dans les litteratures anciennes, force est de constater qu?aucune synthese n?avait encore essaye d?embrasser ? dans une perspective comparatiste et critique ? l?ensemble du domaine de l?Antiquite avec ses composantes egyptienne, orientale, grecque, romaine et byzantine. Mais il y a plus : on s?est interesse egalement a la survie de l?hymne antique a la Renaissance comme au XVIIe siecle. Il convenait en effet de souligner la continuite, par dela la grande rupture entre christianisme et paganisme, d?une tradition poetico-encomiastique relative a la glorification des etres superieurs. Issu d?un colloque organise par les universites de Strasbourg et de Naples, L?hymne antique et son public se presente comme un livre construit ? fruit d?une enquete plurielle qui s?attache a examiner la permanence d?une problematique jusqu?aux temps modernes.