Being a Roman Citizen

This is a book about Roman law for Roman historians. It reveals that the rules stated baldly in legal textbooks had a real and active function in maintaining the fabric of Roman society. Besides legal texts and literary sources, the book makes use of epigraphic material, including recent finds from Popleii which show law in action in the commercial life of Puteoli. The rights and duties of Roman citizens in private life were affected by certain basic differences in their formal status. Women, ex-slaves, adults with living fathers, convicted criminals, play-actors--even the blind, deaf and dumb, and the mentally ill--although all citizens, were far from having equal legal rights and capacities. The book examines in detail what the particular legal disabilities were which affected each group and also what the practical implications of these were for the conduct of daily life. It also considers whether and how they may be related to the distinctively Roman institution ofpatria potestas,and todirect personal participation and interaction, which was a legal requirement for most transactions with legal consequences for persons and property. InBeing a Roman Citizen,Jane F. Gardner sheds light on Roman citizenship and challenges common assumptions about the reasons for discrimination between individuals and about the social attitudes implied.