Final judgments : duty and emotion in Roman wills, 200 B.C.-A.D. 250 / Edward Champlin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Champlin, Edward, 1948- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social structure--Rome.

Social structure.

Wills (Roman law).

Rome--Social conditions.

Rome.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 217 p. )

Edition:

Reprint 2019

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, California : University of California Press, [1991]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Freed from the familial and social obligations incumbent on the living, the Roman testator could craft his will to be a literal "last judgment" on family, friends, and society. The Romans were fascinated by the contents of wills, believing the will to be a mirror of the testator's true character and opinions. The wills offer us a unique view of the individual Roman testator's world. Just as classicists, ancient historians, and legal historians will find a mine of information here, the general reader will be fascinated by the book's lively recounting of last testaments. Who were the testators and what were their motives? Why do family, kin, servants, friends, and community all figure in the will, and how are they treated? What sort of afterlife did the Romans anticipate? By examining wills, the book sets several issues in a new light, offering new interpretations of, or new insights into, subjects as diverse as captatio (inheritance-seeking), the structure of the Roman family, the manumission of slaves, public philanthropy, the afterlife and the relation of subject to emperor. Champlin's principal argument is that a strongly felt "duty of testacy" informed and guided most Romans, a duty to reward or punish all who were important to them, a duty which led them to write their wills early in life and to revise them frequently.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Note on Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Motives

2. Sources

3. Testators

4. The Act

5. Interference

6. Family

7. Servants and Friends

8. Community

9. Memory

Conclusion

Appendix I. Wills Attested in Literature

Appendix II. Papyri

Appendix III. Select Inscriptions

Appendix IV. Captatio and Related Improprieties

Appendix V. Emperors as Heirs and Legatees

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-212) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520910393

0520910397

9780585139685

0585139687

OCLC:

1149436789