Roman family

This paper highlights a fresh approach in the Mid-Seventies to the historiographical discussion of the female condition and women’s role in the ancient, and more specifically Roman World, thanks to works like Sarah B. Pomeroy’s "Goddesses, whores, wives, and slaves "(1975). Beyond its place in that decade’s feminist debate in the USA, this book’s many faceted and pragmatic nature has contributed a more articulated view of Roman women’s image. It left its mark not only on later historiography, sparking new discussions among Roman history specialists, but also well beyond, as the numerous videos and films on Roman women available on the Internet attest. These latter display the creativity and skill of their authors, of various ages and levels of knowledge and technical expertise. While being informed, the viewer is catapulted into women’s daily life in ancient Rome as they deal with the typical problems ascribed to women in every epoch. In this perspective, such efforts can be seen as an excellent example of applied Public History, whose usefulness in increasing gender studies relating to Roman history is well worth evaluation.

HRV: U ovom radu autorica proučava vrstu i strukturu obitelji u ranorimskoj Liburniji. Osnovu istraživanja prije svega čine obrasci komemoracija na nadgrobnim spomenicima, pri čemu autorica koristi statističku metodu koju su razvili R. P. Saller i B. D. Shaw (SALLER - SHAW, 1984., 125 i d.). Osim toga autorica se koristi i rezultatima arheoloških istraživanja i skromnim vijestima antičkih pisaca.
Novim pristupom postojećoj građi autorica nastoji preispitati dosadašnje teorije o liburnskom društvu općenito i o ustroju njihove obitelji. Rezultati do kojih je došla pokazuju da je ideja o postojanju "velike obitelji" kod Liburna neutemeljena. Potpuno suprotno, kod gotovo svih kategorija pučanstva Liburnije dominirao je jezgreni tip obitelji. Izuzetak čini tek vojna populacija kod koje dominira kategorija komemoratora - testamentarnih nasljednika (heredes).
Specifičnost liburnskog društva ogleda se u relativno visokom postotku žena-komemoratora. Autorica to interpretira kao odraz izjednačenosti žena i muškaraca u liburnskom društvu, a ne kao dokaz ženinog povlaštenog društvenog položaja.
Rezultati arheoloških istraživanja, poglavito nastambi i nekropola, potvrđuju ove zaključke. Osim toga, oni ukazuju na postojanje jezgrene obitelji kod Liburna i prije uspostave rimske vlasti.

ENG: THE FAMILY IN EARLY-ROMAN LIBURNIA
Summary
In this paper the author aimed to find out what family type existed in Liburnia during the Principate period. In doing so, the author mainly dealt with tombstones, or rather with the pattern of personal relationships there attested, since the ancient writers gave little or no information at all upon the Liburnian family structure. The results of this analysis are similar to the ones based on the evidence of archaeological excavations (houses and graves in the first place).
Nuclear family relations dominated in the greatest part of Liburnian population: they make 89% of all relations on tombstones of the civilian population (beneath the decurio rank, Tab. 1), 75% on tombstones of the civilian population above the decurio rank (Tab. 2), and 71% on tombstones of the meagre sample of servile population (Tab. 4). Nuclear family dominated both in native or settled population. Relations between members of extended family and between members of affinitas (in-laws) are rare, so they can't justify hypothesis on existence of the extended family type in the native Liburnian population in the pre-Roman period; slightly higher percentages of those relations in the civilian population above the decurio rank should rather be interpreted as a sign of status endogamy practice than as a proof for the domination of the extended family type. Also, in the Liburnian civilian population the same rate of men and women as commemorators has been noticed; the frequency of women-commemorators in Liburnia outnumbers almost all the other examined samples in Western part of Roman Empire. It is possible, then, to conclude that in Liburnian society women were equal to men - not only in funeral practice, but also in some other fields of economic and social life.
The family relations on tombstones of military population make only 41% of all commemorations (Tab. 3). This pattern of commemoration has already been noticed in other military populations of Roman Empire and it was connected with the pattern of recruitment in which soldiers were posted far from their native places. The greatest part of soldiers came to Liburnia from other parts of Roman Empire; separated from their kinfolk, they turned either to a heir (50% of all relations) or a co-soldier to take care about funeral and commemoration.
Archaeological excavations of settlements and cemeteries in Liburnia (both more often on pre-Roman sites) mostly unearthed houses of modest dimensions (average of 40-45 m2) and individual burials in pseudo-Hellenistic family (?) tombs. Such results point out that the nuclear family was the most common form of family organisation in the pre-Roman Liburnia, as well as in Roman Liburnia.
Recent researches on family in Roman society have shown that its commonest family form was not extended, but nuclear family. Establishment of Roman government in Liburnia didn't cause any radical changes in this field of social life; instead it is possible to follow the continuity of the nuclear family form, at least from Liburnian late pre-Roman period.

In the analytic part, I survey the existing material on the beating of free children in both families and schools in Roman antiquity. I suggest that the practice was more widespread than some studies lead one to suspect, that it did apply to girls and older children as well and that the part of the parents in handing out severe punishment – severe at least in our appreciation – must not be underestimated. Special attention will be paid to the early Christian testimonies of physical punishment in education. More specifically one should wonder whether the strong emphasis laid on the necessity of punishing children by Christian authors needs to be fitted in with a changed negative attitude towards children in early Christianity.  In the synthetic part, I try to develop a plausible type of interpretation for the way Romans dealt with their children. To this end I shall make use of ancient discourse, which, with its strong emphasis on hierarchy, partially considers children as outsiders. The concept of differential equations, will be used to demonstrate that the discourse on parents and child beating first and foremost concealed a fundamental, social concern of aristocratic Roman parents. It is only by combining both aspects, the factual level and the level of discourse, that one comes to a more or less complete picture of the issue of childbeating.

This book chapter offers a close examination of Augustine's like as a single man before and after his conversion to orthodox Christianity.  It focuses on the social expectations and implications of men choosing between the married and unmarried state.

F. Cenerini - I. G. Mastrorosa (ed.), Donne, istituzioni e società fra tardo antico e alto medioevo, Lecce-Brescia, Pensa Multimedia, 2016  -  Collection of papers focusing on some aspects and historical events in order to ascertain the evolution of women’s attitudes and possibility of intervention in Late Antiquity as well as to demonstrate that through various methodological approaches, gender history can offer a pluralistic interpretation of society of such an important period of transition.

Nearly one hundred testimonies make it possible to draw up the distribution map of the tile makers, owners and manufacturers, who provided Avenches with terracotta building materials. Only the flanged tiles, the tegulae, have been marked. Four kinds of seals stand out, with their types and varieties. The most numerous are those of M. Afr(anius) Prof(essus), owner of a tilery in Avenches between 40/50 and 70/80 AD, donor of the curia where one of his stamps was found. M AFR PROF covers Avenches and the villae of Vallon (FR) and Yvonand towards Yverdon.
Fifteen Legionary Tiles marked L XXI C', of which probably four were found at the ancient port, are followed. The seal is well represented between Avenches and Petinesca, outside the region of Vindonissa. On a sixteenth stamp is engraved a mark at the legion XXI s(ub?) c(ura?) Vi(ctoris?), probably element of the roof of the claudio-neronian sanctuary of the Grange des Dimes. On the swiss Plateau, the tiles of the XXI Legion are the most widely distributed, with Avenches as the most westerly spreading point for the stamps L XXI C and L XXI S CVI. Eight tiles are from the production of L. C(ornelius?) Prisc(us?): settled in the region of Frienisberg (BE), at the beginning of the 2nd century AD, his workshops have supplied an area of about 30 km radius. L C PRISC also sees in Avenches its westernmost certificate. A stamp of Ca(millius?) To(rquatus?) was found in the gap between East Gate and Tornallaz; it is probably inscribed on a roof fragment of multiturned tower roof. It seems to be out an Avenches workshop specialized in the manufacture of particular clay objects (mortars, jugs with three handles).
The CA TO F stamps were found in Avenches and Lousonna. The distribution of the stamps in Avenches shows preferential zones, domus and public monuments being supported by this or that owner or manufacturer.

La formación del Imperio romano no solo supuso un control militar y político de los territorios conquistados, sino que también trajo consigo la difusión de valores y modelos sociales y culturales que se extendieron por todo su territorio. Uno de los procesos más significativos fue el surgimiento, expansión y éxito de la cultura epigráfica romana que significó la producción masiva de monumentos epigráficos en Italia y el resto de las provincias romanas. En esta obra se utiliza una parte de esa producción epigráfica para aproximarse históricamente al espacio definido por las fuentes romanas como el territorio de los autrigones.
La obra se estructura en dos partes: el corpus epigráfico de las inscripciones funerarias del territorio autrigón por un lado, y por otro, el estudio pormenorizado de este, que incluye una aproximación a su cronología, tipología y decoración, onomástica y, de manera más importante, la representación de los diferentes grupos sociales en la epigrafía, las relaciones familiares presentes en la conmemoración funeraria y lo que estos elementos nos indican sobre la sociedad que la practicaron.

http://editorial.csic.es/publicaciones/libros/13460/0/la-epigrafia-funeraria-de-epoca-romana-del-area-au.html

In the Laudatio Turiae, Turia saved her property from her male relatives, and provided her husband (who was under her protection) with money. She also gave financial support to her sister, who was under legitimate guardianship. During the defence of her father’s will, she undertook the case. Being childless, she suggested to her husband to remarry, willing to share her property with the eventual children. In the Laudatio Murdiae, Murdia, had been married twice to worthy husbands and had children from both marriages. She left a will settling all her legal issues, making all her sons equal heirs after she made a bequest to her daughter. She also left her second husband a fixed sum, as a dower. Hortensia delivered a speech in front of the members of the Second Triumvirate against their decision to impose taxes on 1400 wealthy women, in order to sponsor the military legions. The women refused to contribute because their social position would be seriously aggravated if they lost their properties. These texts give a unique insight into the Roman family ideology and mentality, related often with the Roman law. In this article we try to illuminate the legal aspects dominating Roman society, but also the wife's position as the true guardian of the house.

The royal Piso family of Rome performed "miracles" by creating them in the form of literary works. This paper explains not only what they did, but how and why they did it and more. There are many items in ancient texts that have baffled scholars for a long time; this sheds light upon a few of those. Please share this information. TY

Is there an epigraphic equivalent to the so-called curse-tablet? This paper aims to tease out the implications of a singular, durable residue of ancient magic and superstition (CIL 6.20905). Does the inscribed text confirm or contest the conventional schema for organizing curse formulae? Can it be used as evidence for certain conventional or non-normative types of belief-system, civic credulity, and ritual practice? What cultural ‘realities’ are revealed by the stories it tells, the social relations it describes, and the terrible fate it invokes? A complementary aim is to attempt a gendered analysis of this non-canonical epigraphic trace.

A collection of essays considering the "Mediterranean family" model in the ancient world. Covering from all periods from the Late Bronze Age to Late Antiquity and all major regions of the Mediterranean (Egypt, Syria, North Africa, Greece, Anatolia, Italy, Southern Gaul and Spain), the volume both questions and redefines the sociology of family and household in the ancient world.

Non-Christian texts hardly ever confront us with men praising themselves or being praised for their being a virgin. The Latin word for virgin, virgo, only existed as a female noun, as did the Greek parthenos. There was not even the expectation that young men, mostly in their mid-twenties, should enter their first marriage as a virgin, quite the contrary. Without exaggeration, one could say that the early church had monopolised the issue of virginity. While for obvious reasons the ecclesiastical writers mostly focused on women, they introduced the issue of male virginity and chastity as well. Almost simultaneously, a whole range of Christian funerary inscriptions for male virgins emerges, resorting to specific vocabulary and words which are not paralleled in ancient literary sources. Though these Christian inscriptions have been collected, they have hardly ever been studied systematically. Ultimately, the result of the admittedly somewhat unusual marriage between history of gender/ sexuality on the one hand and epigraphy/serial evidence on the other yields new results in the study of early Christianity.

An on-line bibliography on childhood in the Ancient world and the Early Middle Ages. This Sept. 2015 version includes 2067 entries, which means over 15% increase since the 2014 version. This is mainly due to the more systematic approach to the early Christian scholarship. This 7th edition of the bibliography could not have been compiled and published without Reidar Aasgaard and Cecilie Krohn, and without the economic support from the Norwegian Research Council and IFIKK (University of Oslo).
                            The main/primary publication of this resource can be found on the University of Oslo internet pages (http://www.hf.uio.no/ifikk/forskning/prosjekter/barndom/bibliography---endelig-september-2015.pdf).
                          The bibliography is intended for both scholars and students. Those interested are more than welcome to propose additions and corrections. These can be sent to Ville Vuolanto at ville@vuolanto.fi.  If you make extensive use of it, I will appreciate that you make reference to it in your scholarly publications. I hope it will be of help for your work.

RESUMEN: El adulterio se consideraba un delito muy grave en la sociedad romana y fue duramente castigado por el Derecho. La legislación augustea constituyó un antes y un después en la persecución de estas actuaciones que atentaban directamente contra la moral. En este sentido, las grandes perjudicadas fueron las mujeres que eran infieles a sus parejas. Ellas recibieron un trato desigual con respecto a los hombres y sufrieron una gran discriminación social. El presente trabajo pretende estudiar algunas referencias sobre el adulterio tanto en las fuentes jurídicas como en las literarias.

ABSTRACT: Adultery was a very serious crime in Roman society and it was severly punished by Law. The Augustan legislation pursued these crimes against morals. Women were the hardest hit by the laws. They received unequal treatment with respect to men and they suff ered a great social discrimination. This paper intends to study some references about adultery in legal and literary texts.

Michelangelo offered two little paintings to his beloved assistant Francesco Amadori, called Urbino: the Annunciation and the Crucifixion. After the Amadori's death (3 December 1556) the paintings passed to the collection of the Duke of Urbino. In the correspondence with Michelangelo, Cornelia Colonelli, widow of Francesco Amadori, asked him if Marcello Venusti could make a copy of both paintings, because the original paintings were offered by the Duke of Urbino. From the Della Rovere collection they passed to Lucrezia d'Este. When she died, in 1598 she left her collection to the Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini and the paintings passed from Ferrara to Rome. From the Aldobrandini they moved into the Borghese collection until their dispersion approx. 1790-1800. In 1802 the Crucifixion was bought by Luciano Bonaparte, who later sold it to Maria Luisa of Borbone. The Crucifixion appears was mentioned yet in the collection of her son, Carlo Ludovico of Borbone-Lucca. In 1841 he tried to sell the painting in London, probably without success. On the back of the painting there are the number of the Borghese inventory of 1693 and the letters of Carlo Ludovico Borbone. The painting, today in a private collection, was exhibited in "D'après Michelangelo", Milan, Castello Sforzesco, 30 September 2015 - 10 January 2016.

The epigraphic evidence from four Lower Moesian legionary bases provides information about military-civilian society living along the Lower Danubian frontier zone. The inscriptions on stone originating from these four sites informs not only about the names, age or status of the people living in the border zone, but may be helpful in recreating the emergence of Roman provincial society in the military garrisons. The epigraphic evidence collected from Oescus, Novae, Durostorum, and Troesmis includes only the inscriptions related to the people who were not active soldiers and officers serving in the legions. The aim of the paper is to find out whether the epigraphic evidence may bring any additional information concerning the civilian and military families, ethnic and social composition of the inhabitants living near legionary bases, conditions of life, and the nature of the settlement.

The paper discusses the impact of greek civilization on Romans in some aspects of everyday living as well as customs mainly related to Greeks, but later widespread in Rome such as pederasty and homosexuality. The marriage in Roman society has also been discussed as well as some aspects of Roman religion related with family life. It has been suggested that through religion inside of family, Romans exalted sexuality and fertility, and that private was never seperated from public, even in religion. Roman impact on Dalmatia and natives in Dalmatia has been discussed through religion, but some parallels with pre-roman Illyrian religion were also discussed. Spreading of those cults in Dalmatia suggests that some other customs might spread as well, but lack of evidences is obvious. Perhaps new archaeological discoveries will give some new evidences in the future.

Keywords: Romans, family, marriage, Dalmatia, cults

Among almost 300 epigraphic monuments from Novae, thirty-five mention women, but only nine of them refer to female family members of the soldiers and veterans of the First Italic legion. The aim of this paper is to attempt to answer questions concerning the status and character of family relationships maintained by soldiers, officers and veterans of the legio I Italica. Therefore, to the group of monuments from Novae I have added evidence from other sites that yielded inscriptions mentioning the legionaries and their female family members. Thus, the list of monuments comprises evidence from other sites in Lower Moesia, Dalmatia and Chersonesus (Crimea), where soldiers of this unit were stationed. To this list I have added attestations of female family members of the high-rank officers (legates and tribunes) who mention the First Italic legion in their careers, as well as of veterans.

Il patrimonio epigrafico lapidario modenese, che attualmente comprende circa 300 iscrizioni, ha restituito più di 160 menzioni relative a schiave, liberte e ingenuae vissute a Mutina e nell'ager Mutinensis tra la seconda metà del I secolo a.C. e la prima metà del IV secolo d.C. Le epigrafi esaminate mettono in luce alcuni interessanti aspetti relativi alla condizione femminile nella splendidissima colonia emiliana e, più in generale, nella società romana.

The goal of this paper is to critically re-evaluate whether the nature of concubinage was as transitory as is generally supposed. In the late antique period, we are fortunate to know something about just such a relationship: that between Augustine of Hippo and his unnamed concubine of 15 years.  His attachment to this woman and the nature of their relationship forces us to re-evaluate the complexities of these de facto marriages, suggesting tensions between the theoretical disposability of such unions and the reality of doing so were considerably greater than tends to be assumed.

Funerary commemorations from Mauretania Tingitana are an important source of information on family relations in a Roman province. As in other provinces, nuclear relationships (93% of the total) predominate over those of the extended family (7%). Among nuclear family commemorations, 44% are dedicated by parents, 11% by children of the deceased, 30% by spouses and 15% by siblings. Compared with other provinces, Mauretania Tingitana has an unusually high proportion of descending (parent-child) and lateral (sibling) relations; this may reflect strong familial bonds that already existed in the pre-Roman culture. The inscriptions also allow observations about inheritance, identity, marital age, affection, and gender differences.

in E. Ortiz de Urbina & J. M. Vallejo (eds.), Métodos y técnicas en ciencias de la antigüedad. Estudios sobre investigación y docencia (Veleia Anejos Acta 16),  Vitoria – Gasteiz, 2018, 159-204.

The paper begins by examining the methodological problems of writing the social history of the Roman colony of Augusta Emerita (Mérida), capital of the province of Lusitania, especially the degree to which the surviving inscriptions are representative of all inscriptions set up in Emerita in the Roman period. In the second part, it explores a series of key demographic issues: immigration/emigration; life expectancy; widowhood and remarriage; age of first marriage, especially for women. Through a brief analysis of slavery in the colony, it concludes by arguing for the importance of qualitative as well as quantitative approaches.

KEYWORDS
Social history; Roman colonies; Augusta Emerita; the epigraphic habit; demography; immigration; emigration; life expectancy; widowhood; remarriage; age of first marriage; slavery.

Abstract: Le village de Shahba, devenu la colonie romaine de Philippopolis, est situé à quatre-vingt dix kilomètres au sud de Damas et à vingt kilomètres au nord de Suweida’ en Syrie du Sud. Sa notoriété et son développement sont dus à l’empereur Philippe l’Arabe qui a transformé la petite bourgade où sa famille s’était installée, en une petite, mais riche cité de 244 à 249 lors de son règne.
La mosaïque polychrome qu’on pourrait appeller mosaïque de la « Fête Nocturne Pannychis » - à cause de sa représentation personnifiée - a été quelque peu oubliée par la littérature scientifique. On trouve cependant quelques brèves descriptions dans les travaux de J. Balty, de J.-Ch. Balty, de H. Hatoum, de L. Abad Casal, de H. Sichterman et d’A. Kossatz-Deismann. À ma connaissance, elle n’a été publiée que par petits fragments. Seul J.-Ch. Balty, dans un article du LIMC consacré à la personnification abstraite d’Euphrasia, propose une rapide interprétation de la mosaïque en expliquant le sens des mots « pannychis » et « euphrasia ».
La mosaïque de Pannychis n’est plus malheureusement en place, on peut néanmoins supposer, vu le thème représenté, qu’elle devait probablement orner une salle à manger (triclinium ou œcus).
Cette mosaïque rectangulaire, abritée au musee de Shahba, est composée d’une large bordure géométrique, de six petits panneaux représentant des personnifications inscrites sur les cotés courts du tapis, et d’un grand tableau central avec une effigie des trois Grâces (Charites) mis en valeur dans une belle bordure géométrique de ruban torsadé. Les tableaux angulaires représentent les Quatre Saisons. En commençant par l’angle gauche dans la rangée inférieure et en suivant le mouvement contraire à celui des aiguilles d’une montre, les Saisons sont placées en ordre suivant : Theros (l’Été), Methoporon (l’Automne), Heimon[e] (l’Hiver) et Ear (le Printemps). Entre l’Été et l’Automne, l’artiste a placé le buste de la personnification féminine de Pannychis – de la Fête Nocturne. Entre les personnifications du Printemps et de l’Hiver, le portrait en trois quart de la personnification féminine d’Euphrasia – (la Gaîté, la Joie dans un festin, la Réjouissance) a été placée.
Quel sens se cache derrière toutes ces images et à quelle idée elles font allusions ? Si le tableau central est le plus grand, il n’est que complémentaire par rapport aux panneaux latéraux. La clé du programme de la mosaïque est la personnification de Pannychis – de la Fête Nocturne. La personnification de la Gaîté – Euphrasia fait son pendant.
Que sait-on de ces faites nocturnes que les citoyens romains hellénisés en Orient célébraient en se réunissant en grand nombre ? Une source inestimable dans la recherche sur l’histoire des mentalités grecques sous la domination romaine est l’auteur grec d’Éphèse connu sous le nom d’Artémidore de Daldis, spécialiste de l’oniromancie. Il est célèbre grâce à son manuel d’interprétation des rêves (Onirocriticon) rédigé probablement à Éphèse à la fin du IIe siècle. Artémidore parle des Fêtes nocturnes vues dans les rêves. La fête nocturne est célébrée très joyeusement par ses participants. C’est une fête bruyante avec danse et musique. C’est l’occasion pour tout le monde de se rassembler et de faire de nouvelles connaissances. De plus, cette fête permet aux jeunes de dépasser certaines interdictions et d’exprimer leurs sentiments. Les nouveaux couples formés durant cette fête nocturne peuvent confirmer leur engagement par un mariage. Artémidore effectue des rapprochement entre la Fête nocturne et la réunion de personnes, le mariage, la gaîté, la bonne humeur, l’abondance et l’acquisition des biens (pour les pauvres). Le Pannychis et l’Euphrasia sont présents ensemble dans le texte d’Artémidore comme sur la mosaïque de Philippopolis. Sa description met l’accent sur des éléments caractérisant la Fête Nocturne : la joie, la bonne humeur et l’abondance (de la table et des boissons) que les fêtes offrent aux participants. La signification des Charites est complémentaire de celle qui est évoquée par les personnifications de Pannychis et d’Euphrasia. Le tableau de la mosaïque de Philippopolis fait sans doute allusion aux fêtes nocturnes que le propriétaire envisageait d’organiser, et sans aucun doute organisait dans sa demeure.
La mosaïque de la Fête Nocturne de Philippopolis qui ornait probablement un triclinium rappelle ce qu’on rencontre dans d’autres salles à manger chez les riches propriétaires. La théorie du caractère allusif à la vie de l’aristocratie de l’époque romaine (et de ses nouveaux riches) dans la décoration interne des maisons et des villa a de plus en plus de partisans parmi les chercheurs. La mosaïque de Philippopolis ressemble à la décoration des salles à manger qui évoquent la fête, les festins, la boisson, la bonne nourriture, la musique et la danse, tout les ingrédients d’un banquet réussi.

Cet article s'appuie sur une expérience pratique, sur nos connaissances actuelles de la physiologie de la lactation et des besoins nutritionnels du nourrisson, sur des considérations anatomiques, pratiques et affectives, et sur la relecture de données archéologiques, ostéologiques, chimiques et anthropologiques. Premièrement, il défend l'hypothèse selon laquelle une catégorie de petits récipients romains en terre cuite considérés comme des tire-lait sont en fait des biberons. Deuxièmement, une étude de la fonctionnalité de ces récipients met au jour trois fonctions potentielles, qui correspondraient respectivement à une utilisation par des enfants de moins de 6 mois, de plus de 6 mois, et par des adultes. Enfin, des hypothèses concernant le contexte funéraire dans lequel la majorité de ces récipients sont trouvés sont proposées.

Throughout the course of Western history, children born out of wedlock enjoyed neither the social nor legal standing of marital children. Being born out of wedlock caused complications in the lives of not only commoners, but even the elite. The question is whether these attitudes developed independently or if they had a common root. In branches of law regulating the relationships within a family, Roman law is the usual suspect as a kind of ‘ideal law’, which may be understood as a model for modern practices, not only in the scholarship, but even in judicial decisions. On the other hand, Christianity is often recognised as inspiration for model of family in the West. The primary aim of this book is, therefore, to reconstruct the Roman concept of bastardy and how that concept evolved between Augustus and Constantine the Great, who changed the standing of individuals born out of wedlock and shaped legal definitions of illegitimacy for the centuries to come. Although the study is focused on Roman Egypt, the conclusions reached in this book are relevant for the whole of the Roman empire.

Cet article a été réalisé dans le cadre du projet financé par l'European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant Locus Ludi #741520 (www.locusludi.ch). La célèbre épitaphe versifiée de la jeune Geminia Agathè Mater, morte à Rome à l’âge de cinq ans, sept mois et vingt-deux jours, décrit la défunte avec une dimension personnelle particulièrement forte. L’expression dum uixi lusi, « tant que j’ai vécu, j’ai joué » fait référence à une activité qui doit être replacée dans le contexte plus large des épitaphes d’enfants ainsi que des tombes avec du matériel ludique. Cet article examine les différentes significations que cette allusion au jeu a pu contenir, de l’évocation d’un temps heureux de la vie, synonyme d’intégration sociale et familiale, à la consolation, peut-être avec une connotation eschatologique d’apaisement et de complétude.
The famous versified epitaph of the young Geminia Agathe Mater, who died in Rome at the age of five years, seven months and twenty-two days, describes the deceased with a particularly strong personal dimension. The expression dum uixi lusi, “as long as I lived, I played” refers to an activity that must be placed in the broader context of children's epitaphs, as well as tombs with game material. This article examines the different meanings that this allusion to play may have contained, from the evocation of a happy time of life, synonymous with social and family integration, to consolation, perhaps with an eschatological connotation of appeasement and completeness.

This paper explores the social designations mamma and tata, which are almost exclusively found in the epigraphic record, and the role they played together in the commemoration of children and as recipients of commemoration. These epitaphs attest the flexible nature of the Roman family, which recognized the important role of quasi-parental figures in the rearing of children, ascribing them nursery terms such as mamma and tata. Investigating the presence of these quasi-kin individuals in familial epigraphs allows us to better understand the true complexion of the Roman family.

Michael Gray-Fow and David Noy’s well-known articles on “wicked” stepmothers (1988 and 1991) and Patricia Watson’s larger monograph on the subject (1995) all noted and examined the existence of the theme in Roman literature as well as touching upon broader social opinion. To some degree, this caricature continued into Late Antiquity: legal texts and more general literature made use of the saeve noverca as a cultural stereotype. 

That is not to say, however, that novercae were universally or even particularly despised in the late Roman world, nor that the stereotype remained largely unchanged.  Christian discourse on the subject, for example, while limited, offered a more nuanced view on the subject.

While we know little of specific stepmothers, there are several who achieve some notoriety entirely within the Valentinian-Theodosian dynasty:  Justina, Galla and Serena.  Each woman because of circumstance functioned as stepmothers in distinctly different contexts.  They also each were evaluated by Christian and pagan partisans, as well as by those working in the traditions of classical historiography and other literary genres.  Therefore, while certainly hardly representative of the stepmother either in law or in fact, they nevertheless can serve as important signifiers by which we can gauge the evolution of the novercae topos in Late Antiquity.