The single life in the Roman and later Roman world / edited by Sabine R. Huebner (University of Basel, Switzerland), Christian Laes (University of Antwerp, Belgium, University of Manchester, United Kingdom)

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Huebner, Sabine R., 1976- editor.

Laes, Christian, editor.

John W. Faires Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rome--Social life and customs.

Rome (Empire).

Manners and customs.

Single people--Rome--History.

Single people--Rome--Social conditions.

Marriage--Religious aspects.

Single people.

Single people--Social conditions.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

x, 425 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Summary:

Using a variety of historical sources and methodological approaches, this book presents the first large-scale study of single men and women in the Roman world, from the Roman Republic to Late Antiquity and covering virtually all periods of the ancient Mediterranean. It asks how singleness was defined and for what reasons people might find themselves unmarried. While marriage was generally favoured by philosophers and legislators, with the arguments against largely confined to genres like satire and comedy, the advent of Christianity brought about a more complex range of thinking regarding its desirability. Demographic, archaeological and socio-economic perspectives are considered, and in particular the relationship of singleness to the Roman household and family structures. The volume concludes by introducing a number of comparative perspectives, drawn from the early Islamic world and from other parts of Europe down to and including the nineteenth century, in order to highlight possibilities for the Roman world.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 374-411) and indexes.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the John W. Faires Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

1108470173

9781108470179

OCLC:

1045209079

Publisher Number:

99980926640