Karen K. Hersch - The Roman Wedding; Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity (2010).pdf - Rome - martiness

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THE ROMAN WEDDING

The wedding ritual of the ancient Romans provides a crucial key

to understanding their remarkable civilization. The intriguing

ceremony represented the starting point of a Roman family, as

well as a Roman girl’s transition to womanhood. This work is the

ﬁrst book-length examination of Roman wedding ritual. Drawing

on literary, legal, historical, antiquarian, and artistic evidence

of Roman nuptials from the end of the Republic through the

early Empire (ca. 200 BCE to 200 CE), Karen Hersch shows

how the Roman wedding expressed the ideals and norms of an

ancient people. Her book is an invaluable tool for social historians

interested in how ideas of gender, law, religion, and tradition are

interwoven into the wedding ceremony of every culture.

Karen K. Hersch, Assistant Professor of Classics, has been a mem-

ber of the Department of Greek and Roman Classics at Tem-

ple University since 2001. Awarded an Arthur Ross Pre-doctoral

Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome for the academic

year 2000–2001, she earned her PhD from Rutgers University in

2002. Her recent articles include “Ethnicity and the Costume of

the Roman Bride” in Edward Herring and Kathryn Lomas (eds.),

Gender Identities in Italy in the First Millennium BC (2009)and

“ Violentilla Victa ”in Arethusa (2007).

THE ROMAN WEDDING

Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity

Karen K. Hersch

Temple University

Karen K. Hersch - The Roman Wedding; Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity (2010).pdf