Brings together what historians, anthropologists, and philologists have learned about the family in ancient Rome. Among the topics: family relations and the law, marriage, children in the Roman family, and the family through the life cycle. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In this lively and detailed study, Beth Severy examines the relationship between the emergence of the Roman Empire and the status and role of this family in Roman society. The family is placed within the social and historical context of the transition from republic to empire, from Augustus' rise to sole power into the early reign of his successor Tiberius. Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Roman Empire is an outstanding example of how, if we examine "private" issues such as those of family and gender, we gain a greater understanding of "public" concerns such as politics, religion and history. Discussing evidence from sculpture to cults and from monuments to military history, the book pursues the changing lines between public and private, family and state that gave shape to the Roman imperial system.

Provides a general picture of the main features of the Roman family and looks at important legal aspects such as property rights, dowries, divorce, and the authority of the male with its links to political power.

This book illuminates the lives of the 'forgotten' children of ancient Rome and draws parallels and contrasts with contemporary society.

The Roman family is a key concept in the understanding of Roman society at all levels, from the aristocratic elite to slaves. The intertwined themes of status, sentiment, and space, with the use of many types of evidence, from the legal and literary to the iconographical and archaeological, enable the contributors to this book to set out new insights into the family life of the people of Roman Italy.

This volume contains a series of articles that examine the Roman family in Italy and the empire using a wide range of evidence and considering a number of critical issues. Its focus on regional differences in family structure, forms of marriage, and kinship patterns make it the first publication to include targeted study of the family in the Roman provinces. The chapters cover Roman Egypt, Judaea, Spain, Gaul, North Africa, and Pannonia, and make use of both conventional textual sources and epigraphic evidence and material that is less frequently treated, including the medical writers and the Justinianic receipts.