The Roman family in the Letters of the younger Pliny
| dc.contributor.author | CheĢnier, Paul Joseph William | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-13T17:47:11Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-13T17:47:11Z | |
| dc.date.copyright | 1993 | en_US |
| dc.date.issued | 1993 | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Classics | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Greek and Roman Studies | |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Arts M.A. | en |
| dc.description.abstract | This thesis explores conceptualizations of Roman family life as represented in the Letters of the Younger Pliny. Its object is to disclose the contribution Pliny's evidence makes to the current debate on the nature of the Roman family. In the new studies of the Roman family that have characterized Roman social history in the last decade or so, Pliny's evidence has not hitherto been fully exploited. The first chapter provides an introduction to the field of family history, outlining the various approaches of both modern and ancient social historians, and detailing current views on the Roman family. It makes clear that the view of the Roman family as primarily a nuclear construct (a conjugal couple and their unmarried offspring) will be tested throughout the thesis. The second chapter examines Pliny and his Letters. The nature of the correspondence is discussed so that its value as historical evidence can be assessed, and Pliny's own life, career, family, and social circle are examined. The essentially upper-class nature of Pliny's evidence is brought out. Chapter three investigates the evidence on Pliny's residences in the Letters, considering such issues as household composition, spatial definition (with regard to public and private space), and room function. The conclusion is reached that in nature, composition and function, Pliny's residences were distinct from the stereotypical house and home of the modern nuclear family. Chapter four examines Pliny's evidence on Roman marriage, including betrothal and matchmaking processes and questions of marital love and sentiment. It is shown that matchmaking was the concern of the widespread kin group, not simply the principals of the marriage. Pliny's society was committed firmly to marriage by arrangement, though Pliny himself felt that companionate love was to be part of the fabric of a union, at least after marriage had come into being. Chapter five investigates Pliny's views of children, discussing the value he placed on the young and various issues of childrearing. Pliny, it emerges, had a very pragmatic view of children, and was interested in them solely to the extent that they perpetuated the family name, traditions, and fortune. Chapter six explores Pliny's portrayal of the elderly and their role within the family, and concludes that the aged were a focus of family devotion who played an advisory role in family affairs. In sum, it follows, as the conclusion maintains, that Pliny's evidence does not support the notion that nuclear attachments were primary in Roman conceptualization of the family, but that Roman mentality was dominated by a much larger symbiotic construct that is best described as the "extensive family". | en |
| dc.format.extent | 118 pages | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/17446 | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | en_US |
| dc.title | The Roman family in the Letters of the younger Pliny | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
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