Scrinium Classical Antiquity

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    Fathers and Daughters in Roman Society. Women and the Elite Family. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1984. XIX,422p. Paperback. Nice copy. 'Hallett's problem is an interesting one. She attempts to explain the paradox of Roman upper class women who, while wielding little formal power in an emphatically patriarchal society, nevertheless enjoyed political and social power. Domesticity was extolled as an ideal; women were hampered by legal disabilities and were formally excluded from political power. Yet they were also socially active and highly visible, frequently with, it seems, forceful personalities. H. believes that this paradox can be explained in terms of women's place in the family. (... ) Roman élite women were what anthropologists call 'structurally central' family members: they had some degree of control over the family's economic resources and were critically involved in decision-making processes. Women enjoyed esteem because of their occupancy of certain familial roles, most particularly the maternal role. However, Rome did not accord 'mother right' the same importance as 'father right': 'elite society was not equally patriarchal and matriarchal. Indeed, the prominence of the paternal role meant that women were first highly values as their father's daughters. H. coins the term 'filiafocality', daughter-focus, for this phenomenon (...). (Her comments on the maternal avuncular role are particularly interesting). Women were valued as the links between families. H.'s method is explicitly anthropological. She discusses in separate chapters the kinship roles women occupied: daughter, sister and mother. The role of wife, which H. argues was de-emphasized in Roman society, is discussed primarily within the chapter on motherhood. In a final chapter, she draws cross-cultural comparisons from ancient literary evidence to place Roman kinship practice in context. (... ) There is much to stimulate thought. (...) As H. herself comments, there is still much to discover.' (SUE MARTIN in The Journal of Roman Studies, 1986, pp.293-94). From the library of Professor Carl Deroux. (Antiquarian)  (approx. delivery time: undeliverable) ISBN: 9780691101606

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