The Fall Of The Roman Household

Edward Gibbon laid the fall of the Roman Empire at Christianity's door, suggesting that 'pusillanimous youth preferred the penance of the monastic to the dangers of a military life ... whole legions were buried in these religious sanctuaries'. This surprising 2007 study suggests that, far from seeing Christianity as the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire, we should understand the Christianisation of the household as a central Roman survival strategy. By establishing new 'ground rules' for marriage and family life, the Roman Christians of the last century of the Western empire found a way to re-invent the Roman family as a social institution to weather the political, military, and social upheaval of two centuries of invasion and civil war. In doing so, these men and women - both clergy and lay - found themselves changing both what it meant to be Roman, and what it meant to be Christian.

Edward Gibbon laid the fall of the Roman Empire at Christianity's door, suggesting that 'pusillanimous youth preferred the penance of the monastic to the dangers of a military life ... whole legions were buried in these religious sanctuaries'. This surprising 2007 study suggests that, far from seeing Christianity as the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire, we should understand the Christianisation of the household as a central Roman survival strategy. By establishing new 'ground rules' for marriage and family life, the Roman Christians of the last century of the Western empire found a way to re-invent the Roman family as a social institution to weather the political, military, and social upheaval of two centuries of invasion and civil war. In doing so, these men and women - both clergy and lay - found themselves changing both what it meant to be Roman, and what it meant to be Christian.

This second edition examines all aspects of Roman history, and contains a new introduction, three new chapters and updated bibliographies.

The death of Nero in AD 68 marked the end of an era in more than one respect. Not only did it mark the fall of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Nero's suicide also brought about the extinction of the house of the Domitii Ahenobarbi, one of the most distinguished families of Roman aristocracy. The Domitii Ahenobarbi could boast of nine consuls during eight generations in the male line. The Rise and Fall of a Roman Noble Family is the first monograph of the Domitii Ahenobarbi and fills a gap in our knowledge of the Roman aristocracy. The study offers a collective biography of one Roman senatorial family and contributes to a new and more profound understanding of Roman political, religious, social, and economic life by focusing on the activities of the protagonists on a wide front.

Publisher description

Through a look at the family, this book discusses the intersections between Roman and Christian legal culture, thought, and political power after the collapse of the Roman Empire.

Provides a general picture of the main features of the Roman family and looks at important legal aspects such as property rights, dowries, divorce, and the authority of the male with its links to political power.