Roman families, redefined

If ancient Romans observed Family Day, their celebrations would have included wet nurses, slaves and possibly many others who had no blood relationship, according to new University of Calgary research.

A landmark analysis by classicist Hanne Sigismund Nielsen of more than 4,500 inscriptions on Roman tombstones shows that our concept of the Roman family needs to be broadened to include much more than just parents, grandparents and children. . .

For example, slaves were often related to their masters by choice, families frequently included foster parents or children, and wet nurses were especially honoured.

I doubt this is anything startling to anyone with any familiarity with things Roman, but to have the epigraphic evidence properly compiled and analyzed is indeed significant.

Nielsen has written a book about her research titled “Roman Relationships: The Evidence of the Epitaphs,” which is currently under review for publication.

Although the epitaphs have been documented and compiled in reference books, until now nobody has comprehensively described and analyzed them. Nielsen assembled a database of 4,500 complete inscriptions out of a total of 40,000 epitaphs, many of which are only fragmentary.

Read the full article here. An earlier report on this same work was discussed in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review back in 1998 -- an article which touches on much else of interest to those curious about the study of the Roman family.

Posted by David on March 1, 2004 1:12 PM