The Roman clan : the gens from ancient ideology to modern anthropology / C.J. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Christopher John, 1965-

Series:

W.B. Stanford memorial lectures

The W.B. Stanford memorial lectures

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Families--Rome--History.

Families.

Physical Description:

xiii, 393 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Summary:

The Roman gens, a key social formation in archaic Rome, has given rise to considerable interpretative problems for modern scholarship. In this comprehensive exploration of the subject, Professor Smith examines the mismatch between ancient evidence and modern interpretative models influenced by social anthropology and political theory. He offers a detailed comparison of the gens with the Attic genos and illustrates, for the first time, how recent changes in the way we understand the genos may impact upon our understanding of Roman history. He develops a concept of the gens within the interlocking communal institutions of early Rome which touches on questions of land ownership, warfare and the patriciate, before offering an explanation of the role of the gens and the role it might play in modern political theory. This significant work makes an important contribution not only to the study of archaic Rome, but also to the history of ideas.

Contents:

Part I The Evidence for the Gens

1 The ancient evidence 12

2 Etymology, meaning and definition 13

3 The gens: A definition 15

4 The nomen 17

5 The twelve tables 21

6 Gentilicial exogamy and the nature of the gens 30

7 Legendary and historical genealogies 32

8 Gentes, cults and mores 44

9 The gens at law 51

10 The gens in Cicero and Livy 55

2 Modern interpretations 65

2 Carlo Sigonio 66

3 Giambattista Vico and his influence 71

4 Niebuhr and the beginnings of modern ancient history 81

5 Theodor Mommsen 85

6 Lewis Henry Morgan 88

7 Morgan's Marxist legacy 99

8 Fustel de Coulanges 101

9 Henry Sumner Maine 104

10 The gens in the early twentieth century 108

3 The gens in the mirror: Roman gens and Attic genos 114

2 Early views of the genos 115

3 Bourriot and Roussel: A French critique 117

4 The evidence: Philochoros and the Athenaion Politeia 121

5 The evidence: Demotionidai and Dekeleieis 126

6 The evidence: Gene and Cults 130

7 The gene and the Eupatridai 133

8 Reconstructing the genos 134

9 The genos and the gens 140

4 Archaeology and the gens 144

2 From Bronze Age to Iron Age 144

3 The gens at Osteria dell'Osa 147

4 The gens at Satricum 150

5 The Auditorio site 153

7 The Etruscans 156

8 Onomastic structures 158

9 The evidence of chamber tombs 160

10 Crisis 160

Part II Towards an Interpretation of the Gens

5 The Roman community 168

2 Clientes and plebeians 168

3 Historical outline 176

6 The Roman curiae 184

2 The origins of the curiae 186

3 Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the Roman curiae 192

4 Curiae and Quirites 198

5 The names and locations of the curiae 202

6 The religious aspects of the curiae 205

7 The military functions of the curiae 208

8 The political functions of the curiae 210

9 The lex curiata 217

10 The political assemblies of the curiae 223

11 Curiae and tribus 225

12 The archaic curiae 230

7 The patricians and the land 235

2 Gentes and tribus 236

8 The patriciate 251

2 Patres, patricii, and the senate 252

3 Patrician privileges 258

4 Priestly office 260

5 Auspicia 263

6 Political office 268

7 Patrum auctoritas 273

8 Patricians and plebeians 275

9 The problem of the patriciate 278

9 Warfare in the regal and early Republican periods 281

1 The early Roman army 281

2 The gens Fabia at Veii 290

10 Explaining the gens 299

2 Patricians and gentes in the regal period 302

3 Patricians and gentes in the early Republic 306

4 Patricians, gentes and the community 315

5 The gens in the Roman historical tradition 324

11 Roman history and the modern world 336

Appendix 1 Dionysius of Halicarnassus on the Roman curiae and religion 347

Appendix 2 The missing curiae 356.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 363-383) and indexes.

ISBN:

0521856922

OCLC:

62132934

Publisher Number:

9780521856928