The Family in Greek History / Cynthia B. Patterson.
2022
HQ662.5 .A25 1998
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Details
Title
The Family in Greek History / Cynthia B. Patterson.
ISBN
9780674041929
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2022]
Copyright
©2001
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (304 p.)
Other Standard Identifiers
10.4159/9780674041929 doi
Call Number
HQ662.5 .A25 1998
Dewey Decimal Classification
306.85/09495
Summary
The family, Cynthia Patterson demonstrates, played a key role in the political changes that mark the history of ancient Greece. From the archaic society portrayed in Homer and Hesiod to the Hellenistic age, the private world of the family and household was integral with and essential to the civic realm. Early Greek society was rooted not in clans but in individual households, and a man's or woman's place in the larger community was determined by relationships within those households. The development of the city-state did not result in loss of the family's power and authority, Patterson argues; rather, the protection of household relationships was an important element of early public law. The interaction of civic and family concerns in classical Athens is neatly articulated by the examples of marriage and adultery laws. In law courts and in theater performances, violation of marital relationships was presented as a public danger, the adulterer as a sexual thief. This is an understanding that fits the Athenian concept of the city as the highest form of family. The suppression of the cities with the ascendancy of Alexander's empire led to a new resolution of the relationship between public and private authority: the concept of a community of households, which is clearly exemplified in Menander's plays. Undercutting common interpretations of Greek experience as evolving from clan to patriarchal state, Patterson's insightful analysis sheds new light on the role of men and women in Greek culture.
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Access limited to authorized users.
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Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Jun 2022)
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CONTENTS
Introduction
1. The Nineteenth-Century Paradigm of Greek Family History
2. The Family in Homer and Hesiod
3. Early Greek Law and the Family
4. Marriage and Adultery in Democratic Athens
5. Adultery Onstage and in Court
6. Public and Private in Early Hellenistic Athens
Conclusion
Notes
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CONTENTS
Introduction
1. The Nineteenth-Century Paradigm of Greek Family History
2. The Family in Homer and Hesiod
3. Early Greek Law and the Family
4. Marriage and Adultery in Democratic Athens
5. Adultery Onstage and in Court
6. Public and Private in Early Hellenistic Athens
Conclusion
Notes
Index