@inbook{d98761667147468097ddb096ec441c58,
title = "Roman citizenship, marriage, and family networks",
abstract = "This chapter examines the legal regime governing the status of children of Romans and non-Romans and considers its role in shaping family networks in the provinces. The first section reviews two key principles of Roman law: the rule established by the lex Minicia that the offspring of a mixed union took the status of the “inferior” partner and the ban on testation to peregrines. The second section traces the evolution of these rules over the long second century, stressing the modest scale of efforts to mitigate their prejudicial effects on mixed unions. The two principles remained intact at the time of Caracalla{\textquoteright}s grant. The third section supplements the legal analysis with concrete examples from inscriptions and papyri of peregrine children of Roman parents, proving the operation of the first principle through to the end of the second century. The fourth section examines the effects of the legal regime on the structure of family networks in the provinces. It presents evidence that Roman law did have the expected effect of promoting endogamy among Roman families in non-Roman communities; there are mixed unions but fewer than we would expect. The chapter ends by noting the paradox that the strict rules about the transmission of status and property made Roman citizenship a potentially burdensome constraint but also, indirectly, an advantageous status, insofar as it gave preferential access to a network of families that had disproportionate access to patronage and control of capital.",
keywords = "Roman citizenship, Marriage, Families, Inheritance, Roman law",
author = "Lavan, {Myles Patrick}",
year = "2022",
month = mar,
day = "24",
doi = "10.1093/oso/9780197573884.003.0004",
language = "English",
isbn = "9780197573884",
series = "Oxford studies in early empires",
publisher = "Oxford University Press",
pages = "103--139",
editor = "Myles Lavan and Clifford Ando",
booktitle = "Roman and local citizenship in the long second century CE",
address = "United Kingdom",
}