Growing Up Fatherless in Antiquity

This book investigates the effects of fatherlessness on the societies, cultures, politics and families of the ancient Mediterranean world.

Sabine R. Hübner (Edited by), David M. Ratzan (Edited by)

9780521490504, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 February 2009

350 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2 cm, 0.7 kg

'Uniformly excellent … The chapters in this book are very effective reminders of the lasting emotional distress of growing up without a father … this book represents a welcome attempt to supplement demographic studies of ancient families with investigations of specific situations involving historical actors and literary characters.' Raymond Van Dam, AHB Online Reviews

As the changes in the traditional family accelerated toward the end of the twentieth century, a great deal of attention came to focus on fathers, both modern and ancient. While academics and politicians alike singled out the conspicuous and growing absence of the modern father as a crucial factor affecting contemporary family and social dynamics, ancient historians and classicists have rarely explored ancient father-absence, despite the likelihood that nearly a third of all children in the ancient Mediterranean world were fatherless before they turned fifteen. The proportion of children raised by single mothers, relatives, step-parents, or others was thus at least as high in antiquity as it is today. This book assesses the wide-ranging impact high levels of chronic father-absence had on the cultures, politics, and families of the ancient world.

List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Acknowledgements
Note on abbreviations
Introduction: 1. Fatherless antiquity? Perspectives on 'fatherlessness' in the ancient Mediterranean Sabine R. Hübner and David M. Ratzan
Part I. Coping with Demographic Realities: 2. The demographic background Walter Scheidel
3. Oedipal complexities Mark Golden
4. Callirhoe's dilemma: remarriage and stepfathers in the Graeco-Roman east Sabine R. Hübner
5. 'Without father, without mother, without genealogy': fatherlessness in the Old and New Testaments Marcus Sigismund
Part II. Virtual Fatherlessness: 6. Bastardy and fatherlessness in ancient Greece Daniel Ogden
7. Fatherlessness and formal identification in Roman Egypt Myrto Malouta
Part III. Roles without Models: 8. Diomedes, the fatherless hero of the Iliad Louise Pratt
9. Sons (and daughters) without fathers: fatherlessness in the Homeric epics Georg Wöhrle
10. Absent Roman fathers in the writings of their daughters: Cornelia and Sulpicia Judith P. Hallett
Part IV. Rhetoric of Loss: 11. The disadvantages and advantages of being fatherless: the case of Sulla Sabine Müller
12. An imperial family man: Augustus as surrogate father to Marcus Antonius' children Ann-Cathrin Harders
13. Cui parens non erat maximus quisque et uetustissimus pro parente: parental surrogates in imperial Roman literature Neil W.Bernstein
14. The education of orphans: a reassessment of the evidence of Libanius Raffaella Cribiore
15. 'Woe to those making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless': Christian ideals and the obligations of stepfathers in late antiquity Geoffrey Nathan
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]