Full Description
Bringing together a team of international experts from different subject areas including law, history, archaeology and anthropology this book re-evaluates the traditional narratives surrounding the origins of Roman law before the enactment of the Twelve Tables. Much is now known about the archaic period, relevant evidence from later periods continues to emerge and new methodologies bring the promise of interpretive inroads. This book explores whether, in light of recent developments in these fields, the earliest history of Roman law should be reconsidered. Drawing upon the critical axioms of contemporary sociological and anthropological theory, the contributors yield new insights and offer new perspectives on Rome's early legal history. In doing so, they seek to revise our understanding of Roman legal history as well as to enrich our appreciation of its culture as a whole.
Contents
Introduction: The Dawn of Roman LawPaul J. du Plessis and Sinclair W. Bell
Part I: The Materiality of Roman Law: New Archaeological Discoveries
1. Roman Law in its Italic ContextJames Clackson
2. Central Italian Elite Groups as Aristocratic Houses in the Ninth to Sixth Centuries B.C.E.Matthew Naglak and Nicola Terrenato
3. Authority and Display in Sixth-Century Etruria: The Vicchio SteleP. Gregory Warden and Adriano Maggiani
Part II: Constructing Early Roman Law: Sources and Methods
4. The Twelve Tables and the Leges regiae: A Problem of ValidityCarlos Amunátegui Perelló
5. The Leges regiae in Livy: Narratological and Stylistic StrategiesMarco Rocco
6. The Leges regiae through Tradition, Historicity and Invention: A Comparison of Historico-Literary and Jurisprudential SourcesRossella Laurendi
7. The Laws of the Kings - A View from a DistanceChristopher Smith
8. Beyond the Pomerium: Expansion and Legislative Authority in Archaic Rome Jeremy Armstrong
Part III: Roman Law in Historiography and Theory
9. Niebuhr and Bachofen: New Forms of Evidence on Roman HistoryLuigi Capogrossi Colognesi
10. Finding Melanesia in Ancient Rome: Mauss's Anthropology of nexumAlain Pottage
Index
