Families in the Greco-Roman World

Description

The family has been recognised in the ancient world as the key social institution on which both society and the state are based. However, in the pre-Classical and Classical world the family was constructed in dissimilar ways and provides the means to explaining why the civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean, although sharing many cultural features, in fact differed greatly. This volume draws on the most recent work of leading scholars in the field with the aim of establishing a new understanding of the ancient family for the 21st century. In so doing, the book includes new approaches to social institutions, depictions of women and children, the Seleucid dynasty as a negative model of family, the inclusion of Etruscan societies, and a fundamental re-assessment of the family in antiquity.

Ray Laurence is Professor of Classical and Archaeological Studies at the University of Kent, UK. He is the author of many titles including Pompeii The Living City (with Alex Butterworth) which was awarded the Longman-History Today New Generation Prize 2006. Agneta Stromberg is a senior lecturer in ancient history at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.