Old Age in the Roman World

by Parkin, Tim G.

• ISBN13: 9780801871283
• ISBN10: 080187128X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-04-04
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

Classical authors such as Cicero and Plutarch would have us believe that the elderly were revered, active citizens of ancient Rome. But upon closer inspection, it appears that older people may not have enjoyed as respected or as powerful a place in Roman society as has been supposed. In this highly original work, Tim Parkin considers the many issues related to aging and the aged in the classical Roman world. Drawing on both his expertise in demography and his knowledge of ancient history and literature, he coaxes new insights from a variety of sources, including legal documents on the "rules of age," representations of old age in classical literature, epigraphic evidence from tombstones, Greco-Roman medical texts, and papyri from Roman Egypt. Analyzing such diverse sources, he offers valuable new views of old age -- not only of men in public life but of men and women in marriage, sexual relationships, and the family. Parkin detects a general lack of interest in old age per se in the early empire, which in itself may provide clues regarding the treatment of older people in the Roman world. Noting that privileges granted to the aged generally took the form of exemptions from duties rather than positive benefits, he argues that the elderly were granted no privileged status or ongoing social roles. At the same time they were both permitted -- and expected -- to continue to participate actively in society for as long as they were able. An innovative and ambitious work, Old Age in the Roman World paints a compelling, heretofore unseen picture of what it meant to grow old in antiquity. As a work of both social and cultural history, it broadens our knowledge of the ancient world and encourages us to reexamine our treatment of older people today.

Author Biography

Tim G. Parkin is a professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. His previous book, Demography and Roman Society, was also published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(12)
I. UNCOVERING AGING ROMANS	13	(78)
Roman Definitions and Statements of Age	15	(21)
The Demography of Old Age	36	(21)
Old Age and the Romans: Images and Attitudes	57	(34)
II. OLD AGE IN PUBLIC LIFE	91	(100)
Rules of Age in the Roman Empire	93	(45)
Rules of Age in Roman Egypt	138	(35)
The Realities of Rules of Age: Proofs of Age	173	(18)
III. OLD AGE IN PRIVATE LIFE	191	(46)
Old Age, Marriage, and Sexuality	193	(10)
Aging and the Roman Family	203	(34)
IV. PUTTING OLDER PEOPLE IN THEIR PLACE	237	(36)
The Marginality of Old Age	239	(34)
Final Remarks	273	(4)
Appendix A Tables	277	(16)
Appendix B Figures	293	(6)
Appendix C Some Stages of Old Age	299	(4)
Abbreviations	303	(6)
Notes	309	(130)
Bibliography	439	(44)
Index	483