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Ancient Marriage in Myth and Reality
Editor: Lena Larsson Lovén and Agneta Strömberg
Date Of Publication: Aug 2010
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-2261-9
Isbn: 1-4438-2261-2
The papers in this volume were among the contributions presented at an international symposium, Ancient Marriage in Myth and Reality, which was held at the Swedish Institute in Rome in October 2006. The symposium was held under the aegis of ARACHNE—the Nordic network for women’s history and gender studies in Antiquity.

The study of ancient marriage has been largely the province of historians working with texts, and the result of this was an emphasis on elite marriages discussed by the male writers of the upper classes and on laws pertaining to marriage. Neither area has been exhausted, as several essays in this new international collection indicate, but the balance among the papers reveals the shift in focus. Along with innovative readings of authors from Livy to Porphyry, we find examinations of demographic and contractual evidence as well as inscriptions and visual imagery. Among the contributors to the volume are: Pauline Schmitt Pantel, Judith Evans Grubbs, Ray Laurence, Marjatta Nielsen and Mary Harlow.

The editors of this volume, Lena Larsson Lovén and Agneta Strömberg, were responsible for organising the symposium on Ancient Marriage. They are also the founders of the network ARACHNE and both are at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Lena Larsson Lovén is Research Fellow in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at the Institute of Historical studies, University of Gothenburg. Her research interests include gender, the Roman family, and dress and identity in the Roman emprie. She is currently a member of the European research project DressID: Clothing and Indentities—New Perspectives on Textiles in the Roman Empire.

Agneta Strömberg is Lecturer in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at the Institute of Historical studies, University of Gothenburg. She specalizes in Ancient Greece and her research interestes include Greek archaeology, gender, visual culture in Classical Athens, and family history.

"This is a clear presentation of new ideas about marriage with a focus on social status as well as gender in the Greek, Etruscan and Roman worlds. The result is a new balance between the elite and the sub-elite, between the ideal and the everyday, and between the generic and the very personal. This collection is an exciting and important addition to the literature on ancient marriage."

- Natalie Boymel Kampen, Professor emerita, Columbia university, New York

"Marriage is an essential institution to study if one wishes to understand the role of women in ancient society. Case studies enrich the view of marriage in antiquity provided by more general accounts of the subject. Diversity of the evidence and approaches produces a fresh contribution to the gender studies within the classical studies."

- Dr Marja-Leena Hänninen, Reader in History, University of Helsinki and Tampere

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