From bedroom to courtroom : law and justice in the Greek novel / by Saundra Schwartz.

Revision of the author's thesis.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-262) and index.

From Bedroom to Courtroom argues that the fictional trial scenes in the Greek ideal romances reflect Roman legal institutions and ideas, particularly relating to family and sexuality. Given the genre's emphasis on love and chastity, the specter of adultery looms over most of the scenarios that develop into elaborate trials. Such scenes shed light on the Greek reception of the criminalization of adultery promulgated by the moral legislation during the reign of Augustus. This book focuses on three major novels whose composition coincided with the extension of Roman citizenship when access to Roman courts was granted to increasing numbers of inhabitants of the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.

Introduction. Rhetoric and realia -- Roman law in the Greek world -- The form of the trial scene -- Chariton, Callirhoe. In the shadow of the Lex Julia de adulteriis coercendis? -- Trial 1. A crime of passion : uxoricide -- Trial 2. Pirates of the Mediterranean : tomb robbery and kidnapping -- Trial 3. A Hellene in the King's court : malfeasance -- Trial by battle : bigamy -- Conclusion -- Achilles Tatius, Leucippe and Clitophon. Legal pluralism in Roman Alexandria -- Trial 5. Facts not in evidence : murder -- Trial 6. Judicium deorum : sacrilege -- Conclusion -- Heliodorus, Aethiopica. Patria Potestas after the Antonine Constitution -- Trial 7. In the name off the father : patricide -- Trial 8. The fury's whip : entrapment -- Trial 9. Innocents abroad : poisoning -- Trial 10. A royal paternity suit : infanticide -- Trial 11. Lost and found : abduction -- Conclusion -- General conclusion.

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