The Roman Family: New Directions1

Echos du Monde Classique/Classical Views XLII. n.S. 17.1998.129-137 REVIEW ARTICLE THE ROMAN FAMILY: NEW DIRECTIONS' KEITH BRADLEY In the last two decades the Roman family has become a subject of intense investigation and now commands a place at the forefront of Roman social history. Other areas of ancient history have feIt the impact . and books on the Creek family and the early Christian family are consequently beginning to appear (S.B. Pomeroy, Families in Classical and Hellenistic Greece [Oxford 1997], C.A. Cox, Household Interests IPrinceton 1998], H. Moxnes. ed., Constructing Early Christian Families [London/New York 1997]). In turn, interest in the Roman family is one aspect of a very broad historical interest in the family at large. and that itself is (in part) a function of the anxiety that continues to be feit about the future of the contemporary family. especially in the major western democracies (cf. e.g. A. Burgiere, C. Klapisch-Zuber et al.. eds., A History oi the Family [Cambridge 1996], and Andrew Hacker, "The War Over the Family." The New York Review oi Books, December 4. 1997. 34-38). Few have done more to promote and develop the field of Roman family history than Beryl Rawson. organiser of three international conferences on the subject at the Humanities Research Centre of the Australian National University in Canberra, and editor oE. and contributor to. their proceedings. The results of the first two meetings, held in 1981 and 1988. appeared as The Roman Family: New Perspectives (London/Ithaca 1986) and Marriage, Divorce. and Children in Ancient Rome (Oxford/Canberra 1991). They are joined now by the resuIts of the third conference, held in 1994 and this time co-organised by Paul Weaver. Immediately it should be observed that Tlle Roman Family in Italy is the most substantial of the three conference volumes. displaying a larger number of papers (thirteen) and a greater variety of topics and I Bel'yl Rawson and Paul Weaver, eds., The Roman Family in ltaly: Status. Sentiment. Space. Humanities Research Centre: Canben'a. Clal'endon PI'ess: Oxford. 1997. Pp. xvi + 378. ISBN 0-19-815052-0. Cynthia J. Bannon. The ßrothers of Romulus: Fraternal Pietas in I