Between bedroom and courtroom : legal and literary perspectives on slaves and the freed in Augustus' adultery legislation
This thesis offers an investigation into the roles of slaves and freedmen and the extent of their involvement in the Romansâ legal and literary discourse on adultery and the legislation introduced to address it â the lex Iulia de adulteriis coercendis. It also seeks to assert their place more firmly within the context of the Roman familia and explore what this means in the context of the adultery statute. This thesis reasserts the position of slaves and freedmen within the Roman familia as a whole and, more specifically, as individuals deserving and requiring of consideration within the context of the analysis of the adultery statute and other social legislation. A multi-disciplinary approach has been adopted in this thesis to address the multiple avenues apparent in the investigation. A detailed analysis of the primary extant source of the statute, found in Justinianâs Digest, was carried out to determine the extent of the inclusion of the servile and freed in adulterous relationships and how much consideration was shown to them by the legal writers, or jurists. As a corollary to this analysis, a range of literary works, from Ovid, the Elder Seneca, Quintilian, Tacitus and Suetonius, was examined to
Bratton, Amy Eleanor
Roman adultery statutes ; Roman slavery ; Roman law ; adultery ; Justinianâs Digest
Between bedroom and courtroom : legal and literary perspectives on slaves and the freed in Augustus' adultery legislation. This thesis offers an investigation into the roles of slaves and freedmen and the extent of their involvement in the Romansâ legal and literary discourse on adultery and the legislation introduced to address it â the lex Iulia de adulteriis coercendis. It also seeks to assert their place more firmly within the context of the Roman familia and explore what this means in the context of the adultery statute. This thesis reasserts the position of slaves and freedmen within the Roman familia as a whole and, more specifically, as individuals deserving and requiring of consideration within the context of the analysis of the adultery statute and other social legislation. A multi-disciplinary approach has been adopted in this thesis to address the multiple avenues apparent in the investigation. A detailed analysis of the primary extant source of the statute, found in Justinianâs Digest, was carried out to determine the extent of the inclusion of the servile and freed in adulterous relationships and how much consideration was shown to them by the legal writers, or jurists. As a corollary to this analysis, a range of literary works, from Ovid, the Elder Seneca, Quintilian, Tacitus and Suetonius, was examined to
legal literary perspective slave free augustus adultery legislation offer investigation roles slave extent involvement romans legal literary discourse adultery legislation introduce address also seek assert place firmly_within context roman explore mean context adultery statute position slave within roman whole specifically individual deserve require consideration within_context analysis adultery statute social legislation multi_disciplinary adopt address multiple avenue apparent investigation detailed_analysis primary extant source statute find carry_determine extent inclusion free relationship much consideration show legal writer jurist corollary analysis range literary work ovid elder seneca tacitus examine