Women and Law in Late Antiquity [Paperback]

This book explores the legal and social position of women in the west from classical antiquity through the early middle ages. Arjava argues that from the viewpoint of most women, late antiquity was not a period of radical change, and that the influence of Christianity on the social position of women has often been exaggerated. It was only after the fall of the western empire that a new legal system and a new social world emerged.

Arjava's book should stimulate discussion and reconsidertion of the legal culture of late antiquity. The ideas in his book deserve respectful consideration from scholars who wish to understand the place of women in late ancient society. --Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies