Marriage, Divorce, and Children in Ancient Rome
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:4th Jan '96
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
The family has played a central role in most societies, and the complexity and variety of that role has engaged the minds of scholars from a wide range of disciplines. Recent studies of ancient Rome have shown that the sentimental ideal of a core nuclear family was strong throughout the period, but that the reality was often different. This book looks in detail at many aspects of the composition and inner workings of the Roman family and provides an illuminating case-study of the sentimental ideal vis-à-vis everyday reality. The areas of study covered are adult-child relationships (Beryl Rawson), the frequency of divorce (Susan Treggiari), divorce and adoption as familial strategies (Mireille Corbier), remarriage and the structure of the upper-class Roman family (K. R. Bradley), the sentimental ideal of the Roman family (Suzanne Dixon), fathers and sons (Emiel Eyben), familial authority and obedience (Richard Saller), children of freedmen (P. R. C. Weaver), and the impact of domestic architecture with reference to Pompeii and Herculaneum (Andrew Wallace-Hadrill).
'The importance of the subject and the quality of the individual essays should attract a wide audience ... Each of the contributors is distinguished by previous achievements in the field.' * T.A.J. McGinn, Vanderbilt University, History, Spring 1993 *
'reader-friendly: plates have been added, technical terms and quotations from Greek and Latin are translated, the editor's brief introduction brings out themes with admirable clarity ... Not the least of this volume's virtues is a sophisticated and critical handling of cross-cultural comparisons ... it is independent judgments like these which make this book lifely to fulfil one of its editor's goals: to contribute to family studies as a whole.' * Mark Golden, University of Winnipeg, Ancient History, No. 3, 1992 *
'there are no more excuses for simple sensationalism on this subject ... Much credit for the advance must go to Beryl Rawson particularly (but not solely) for her organization of and contributions to conferences on the Roman family. The papers of the 1981 conference were published in 1986 and the volume remains indispensable... she provides a very useful overview of the life within the family of the growing child, she does well to lay emphasis on the more public aspects of family life, as well as the physical environment of the home.' * Tim G. Parkin, Journal of Roman Studies *
ISBN: 9780198150459
Dimensions: 217mm x 138mm x 18mm
Weight: 362g
266 pages