Divorce in Classical Athenian Society: Law, Practice and Power

Authors

  • Carlos F Norena

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21971/P7KK5B

Abstract

The practice of divorce in classical Athens sheds light on relationships which are fundamental to our understanding of Athenian society: between husband and wife, between separate households, and between household and state. The power which informs these relationships, as illuminated by divorce, can be measured not only in juridical terms, but in social and economic terms as well. The main primary sources for the study of divorce in classical Athens are the forensic speeches of the Attic orators. These speeches show that whereas it was easy, legally, to obtain a divorce, it was often complicated in actual practice. Divorce, in fact, was often avoided—even when the state intervened to mandate the dissolution of a marriage—and I argue that the practice of divorce, as opposed to the laws governing it, reveals an unexpected balance of power between the constituents to an Athenian marriage.

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Author Biography

Carlos F Norena

Carlos F. Norena is a PhD candidate in the Graduate Group in Ancient History at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his BA in History with High Honors from University of California at Berkeley in 1993, and his MA in Ancient History from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. He is currently preparing his doctoral dissertation on Roman imperial imagery and ideology, under the supervision of Brent D. Shaw. His main interests are in the political and social history of the Roman empire, but he also works on the social history of classical Greece.

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Published

2008-02-21

How to Cite

Norena, C. F. (2008). Divorce in Classical Athenian Society: Law, Practice and Power. Past Imperfect, 7. https://doi.org/10.21971/P7KK5B

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Section

Articles