Sulle tracce di un’antica prassi: la c.d. cessione della moglie

Abstract

This essay analyzes the evidence which allows us to glimpse the traces of an archaic practice of wife ceding and its development to the late Republican age. The sources which recount the episode of the ceding of Marcia and Livia Drusilla and a passage of the so-called Laudatio Turiae, with special reference to lines 35-36 and the proposed integration of Mommsen liberi [communes] are analyzed. In relation to such integration the Author analyzes Aug. De Bono Coniugali 15. 17 which she ascribes to the ancient biblical practices, criticizing the attribution of the expression “liberi communes” to the Roman law. Finally the Author suggests a hypothesis on the value of the expression koinonìa paidon in relation to the ceding of wifes in the archaic age.