Book Cover
E-book
Author Saller, Richard P

Title Patriarchy, property and death in the Roman family / Richard P. Saller
Published Cambridge [England] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1994

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Description 1 online resource (xiv, 249 pages)
Series Cambridge studies in population, economy, and society in past time ; 25
Cambridge studies in population, economy, and society in past time ; 25.
Contents 1. Introduction: approaches to the history of the Roman family -- pt. I. Roman life course and kinship: biology and culture. 2. Roman patterns of death, marriage and birth. 3. Simulation of Roman family and kinship -- pt. II. Roman family and culture: definitions and norms. 4. Familia and domus: defining and representing the Roman family and household. 5. Pietas and patria potestas: obligation and power in the Roman household. 6. Whips and words: discipline and punishment in the Roman household -- pt. III. The devolution of property in the Roman family. 7. Strategies of succession in Roman families. 8. Guardianship of Roman children. 9. Dowries and daughters in Rome
Summary The Roman father, with his monopoly of property rights and power of life and death over his children, has been prominent in the formulation of the concept of patriarchy in European thought. However, the severe, authoritarian image, based on legal rules and legends, provides, according to Professor Saller, a misleading view of relations between the generations in Roman families. Starting from a demographic analysis, aided by computer simulation of the kinship universe, he shows how the family changed through a Roman's life course, leaving many children fatherless. Examination of the Roman language, exempla, and symbolic behaviour of family relations reveals the mutuality of family obligation within the larger household in which children and slaves were differentiated by status marked by the whip. The concerned, loving father appears as a contrast to the exploitative master
An understanding of demography and cultural values, in turn, yields insights into the use of the sophisticated Roman legal institutions of inheritance, guardianship, and dowry for the transmission of patrimony essential to the continuity of family status. This book contains much of importance to scholars and students of ancient history and classics, and also to those whose interests lie in the field of historical demography
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-244) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Families -- Rome
Patriarchy -- Rome
Property -- Rome
FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS -- Alternative Family.
FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS -- Reference.
Families
Patriarchy
Property
Patriarchaat (sociologie)
Eigendom.
Dood.
Gezinsrelaties.
Romeinse oudheid.
Historia antiga -- roma (sociedade)
Historia antiga -- roma (costume e cotidiano)
Famille -- Rome -- Aspect religieux.
Famille -- Rome -- Sociologie.
Patriarcat (sociologie) -- Rome.
Propriété -- Rome.
Rome (Empire)
Form Electronic book
ISBN 0511001940
9780511001949
9780511582998
0511582994
9780521326032
0521326036
9780521599788
0521599784