Preface

Summary

This book represents an attempt to examine the problems of social control and the regulation of sexuality in an ancient society in a way that will be of interest to a broad audience. I have tried to show how a comparative approach to such issues can help to deepen our understanding of classical Athens, particularly in regard to the role of law in society. Further, I argue that this historical investigation can enrich our general appreciation of the relation of social and legal norms and the role they play in regulating complex social practices, like those associated with sexuality. In this regard, the argument aims at moving beyond a view of social control as implemented through a legal order which somehow imposes its norms upon society, coercing individuals into patterns of deviance and conformity. Instead, I develop an interpretation centered upon the study of social control as the dynamic interplay of legal and social norms within the context of ideology and practice.

In the past five years in which this study has emerged, friends and colleagues have contributed to its completion in a number of ways. Peter Garnsey, John Crook, Calum Carmichael, Tony Long, Felipe Gutterriez, and Stanley Brandes offered valuable comments on individual chapters. Herbert Morris, David Lieberman, Gregory Vlastos, Wolfgang Naucke, and Keith Hopkins have read significant parts of the manuscript and helped me to see it better as a whole. Further, Richard Sailer was kind enough to read through the entire final version.