Family Lives

This volume is the outcome of a Collegium Hyperboreum seminar entitled Families in the Ancient World held in November 2015, where scholars from the Nordic countries came together across disciplines and academic levels to discuss aspects of ancient families in the widest terms. The volume does not attempt to cover this broad field in its entirety, but examines facets of the ancient family and its many constellations through such diverse phenomena as life and death, religion, social status, age, and gender, in the context of both the public and the private spheres of ancient society. In this way, it sheds light on a wide range of aspects pertaining to the family, including the family in the oikos/domus, in theatre performances, and in burial contexts; reflections of families in votive practices, in political propaganda, in the Roman navy, and in negotiations; and manifestations of gender roles both in private and in public. The contributions cover a broad geographical and cultural range within the wider ancient Mediterranean area.