Restless Youth in Ancient Rome

For the Romans, the period of youth was a clearly defined time of crucial importance between childhood and adulthood. However, little critical attention has been paid to this subject. Emiel Eyben looks at Roman antiquity from 200 B.C. to A.D. 500 and attempts to provide a survey of the perceptions the ancients had of youth and its role in a variety of domains--in philosophy, literature, education, law, military, politics, leisure and family life. Eyben's portrait of youth stressesferocitas(hot-headedness) as its most characteristic feature. The young Roman of the upperclass was torn back and forth in the confusion of ideas and revolts. Eyben examines the complex interaction of the public, emotional and mental worlds that a Roman youth would face. Restless Youth in Ancient Romeprovides an original and synoptic representation of the youth of Roman antiquity. It discerns the various ways in which the world of the young was transformed and changed. It is ofconsiderable interest to all historians of antiquity.