Judith Evans Grubbs

This is a new and thought-provoking study of marriage and the law in late antiquity, dealing particularly with the legislation on marriage enacted by the Roman emperor Constantine (AD 307-337). As the first emperor to accept Christianity, Constantine is often credited with having introduced Christian ideals and practices into Roman law, but in this book the author argues that the extent of Christian influence on Constantine's marriage legislation was limited. Rather, in many cases, it merely granted legal recognition to practices that had long been followed by many people in the Roman Empire. Whilst Constantine did not always endorse such practices, and in some cases even tried to repress them, a careful examination of his laws against the dual background of classical Roman law and early Christian attitudes towards marriage reveals much about contemporary behaviour and belief in late antiquity.

The Emperor Constantine's Marriage Legislation

Law and Family in Late Antiquity

It is widely recognized that Roman law is an important source of information about women in the Roman world, and can present a more rounded and accurate picture than literary sources. This sourcebook fully exploits the rich legal material of the imperial period - from Augustus (31 BCE - 14 CE) to the end of the western Roman Empire (476 CE), incorporating both pagan and Christian eras, and explaining the rights women held under Roman law, the restrictions to which they were subject, and legal regulations on marriage, divorce and widowhood.

A Sourcebook on Marriage, Divorce and Widowhood

Women and the Law in the Roman Empire

Tim Parkin

The past thirty years have seen an explosion of interest in Greek and Roman social history, particularly studies of women and the family. Until recently these studies did not focus especially on children and childhood, but considered children in the larger context of family continuity and inter-family relationships, or legal issues like legitimacy, adoption and inheritance. Recent publications have examined a variety of aspects related to childhood in ancient Greece and Rome, but until now nothing has attempted to comprehensively survey the state of ancient childhood studies. This handbook does just that, showcasing the work of both established and rising scholars and demonstrating the variety of approaches to the study of childhood in the classical world. In thirty chapters, with a detailed introduction and envoi, The Oxford Handbook of Childhood and Education in the Classical World presents current research in a wide range of topics on ancient childhood, including sub-disciplines of Classics that rarely appear in collections on the family or childhood such as archaeology and ancient medicine. Contributors include some of the foremost experts in the field as well as younger, up-and-coming scholars. Unlike most edited volumes on childhood or the family in antiquity, this collection also gives attention to the late antique period and whether (or how) conceptions of childhood and the life of children changed with Christianity. The chronological spread runs from archaic Greece to the later Roman Empire (fifth century C.E.). Geographical areas covered include not only classical Greece and Roman Italy, but also the eastern Mediterranean. The Oxford Handbook of Childhood and Education in the Classical World engages with perennially valuable questions about family and education in the ancient world while providing a much-needed touchstone for research in the field.

The Oxford Handbook of Childhood and Education in the Classical World

Roslynne Bell

The Oxford Handbook of Childhood and Education in the Classical World is a comprehensive and forward-thinking study of an expanding subfield in classical studies

Judith A. Evans-Grubbs

Terry Evans

This sourcebook fully exploits the rich legal material of the imperial period, explaining the rights women held under Roman law, the restrictions to which they were subject, and legal regulations on marriage, divorce and widowhood.

Judith Evans Grubbs

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