Description
Book SynopsisRoman women bore children not just for their husbands, but for the Roman state. This book is the first comprehensive study of the importance of fecunditas (human fertility) in Roman society, c. 100 BC - AD 300. Its focus is the cultural impact of fecunditas, from gendered assumptions about infertility, to the social capital children brought to a marriage, to the emperors’ exploitation of fecunditas to build and preserve dynasties. Using a rich range of source material - literary, juristic, epigraphic, numismatic - never before collected, it explores how the Romans shaped fecunditas into an essential female virtue.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Figures and Tables Abbreviations and Conventions Introduction 1 The Place of Marriage and Children in Roman Society 2 Gendering Fecunditas 3 Exploiting Fecunditas 4 Lacking Fecunditas: Overcoming Involuntary Childlessness 5 Fecunditas and the State 6 Fecunditas and the Imperial Family Conclusion Appendix: Latin Inscriptions Commemorating Women Who Likely Died in Childbirth or While Pregnant Bibliography Index of Sources General Index
