Domestic violence and vulnerability in the Roman world

The fact is that for most people, and especially for women and children, the family is the most violent group to which they are likely to belong. (Dobash and Dobash 1979: 7) This volume arises from a project born in part of statistics, or rather of the reality those statistics reveal. Globally, one in every three women in the twenty-first century will experience physical and/or sexual violence during her lifetime.1 Each year, over 1,500 deaths in the USA are attributable to domestic violence.2 The Office for National Statistics in the United Kingdom reported that 1.4 million women and 751,000 men over the age of 16 years experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2023.3 In Australia (the context within which many of the contributors to this volume live and work) on average one woman is killed every week by a current or former intimate partner.4 For many contemporary Australian victims, domestic violence began or increased during the COVID-19 pandemic when a combination of increased emotional and financial stress and lockdowns created or intensified abusive situations.5 The contexts within which we live and work are contexts in which domestic violence has reached pandemic status.6 This fact is an important one for us all to recognize, as researchers, colleagues, teachers, and students. Our classrooms are radical spaces of possibility, and the interactions that take place have enormous capacity to include or exclude others, to listen to or fail to hear myriad voices, to help but also to do harm.7 The materials we teach with, and the discussions to which they give rise, need thoughtful management.8 The statistics on domestic abuse reveal that levels are now so high that we should assume that, in every classroom context in which we find ourselves, we will be working with and alongside victim–survivors, their family and friends, and in contexts where perpetrators of abuse are also highly likely to be present. As part of that awareness it is in our view essential that we also begin to investigate the realities of and attitudes towards domestic abuse and violence in the periods of history we study. This volume is part of a wider project investigating domestic violence and vulnerability in the ancient world. It arose when each editor discovered that the other was working with a team of students to investigate aspects of domestic violence in the Roman world. We first brought those teams together for workshops in Australia in 2022 and 2023, and it is from those collaborations that this volume has emerged.9 Our aim is twofold: firstly, to examine some of the ways in which the Roman world can function as a meaningful case study for the transhistorical and transcultural experience of domestic abuse; and secondly, to examine the specificity of domestic abuse in the ancient Roman world. We do not pretend to have provided a comprehensive coverage of the topic; rather we have sought in this volume to set the scene and to promote further study. We have also sought to indicate the vast variety of approaches and aspects that may be considered under the broad title. The twelve contributions here are grouped under thematic headings: on violence and vulnerability within the household, including particular relationships (husband and wife, parent and offspring, slave owner and enslaved), as well as ways in which patterns of behaviour and attitudes are learned and perpetuated; and secondly on the wider picture of such violence and abuse in a variety of more public contexts. Throughout there is an emphasis on the various types of evidence that may be adduced to draw out the subject and the challenges inherent in interpreting such evidence. Domestic violence is simultaneously simple and difficult to define. One definition (currently used by the New South Wales (NSW) state government in Australia) highlights abuse of power, the fact that most perpetrators are male (and most victims female), the ongoing nature of this abuse, and the fact that this violence may be physical or emotional/psychological: ‘It involves an abuse of power, mainly perpetrated by men in an intimate partner relationship or after separating from the relationship. It extends beyond physical violence and may involve the exploitation of power imbalances and patterns of abuse.’10 The Women’s Legal Service of NSW also notes, in their advice to legal practitioners, the potential for forced marriage to be read as an act of domestic violence: Forced marriage is a criminal offence under section 270.7A of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Commonwealth of Australia) and a human rights abuse. It is also domestic violence as forced marriage typically involves sexual assault, geographic and social isolation, financial control, psychological abuse and forced labour, and a high risk of experiencing other forms of domestic violence, such as verbal and physical abuse.11 The steps posited in the statement, from (a) Commonwealth legislation criminalizing forced marriage under section 270.7A of the Criminal Code Act 1995, to (b) recognition that it is a human rights abuse, to (c) the statement that it also constitutes domestic violence, are indicative of the co-location of acts of domestic violence across multiple fragmented legislative provisions at state and federal level. This has an impact on how we address—but also how we define—domestic violence. A glance at domestic violence legislation in Australian jurisdictions demonstrates the difficulties we encounter when we seek to move from a description of what this violence looks like to an attempt to legislate for its prevention or to punish perpetrators; in short, in Australia domestic violence is prosecuted and penalized using a patchwork of legislation, including (with variations in each Australian State) charges of physical assault, sexual assault, kidnapping and deprivation of liberty, property damage, harm, economic abuse, emotional and psychological abuse, stalking, intimidation, harassment, exposure of a child to violence, and the breaching of a protection order.12 In general, contributors to this volume have found it helpful to consider what modern legislation defines as ‘domestic violence’ in order to help us understand what behaviours and actions we might look for in our ancient evidence. In addition to cases of uxoricide (Harris and Lawrence), contributions in this volume examine physical and verbal assault, sexual assault (Crabbe), property damage and theft of property, and economic and emotional abuse. A particular and increasingly widely recognized aspect of intimate partner violence is coercive control. Debates around the criminalization of coercive control are ongoing in the UK, Australia, and elsewhere. A powerful case has been made for the recognition of coercive control on the grounds that it would recognize a ‘pattern of behaviour’ rather than specific, isolated instances covered by the current laws, and it would help to raise awareness of the extent to which it is a ‘pattern of behaviour’ which marks domestic violence. Coercive control is the term used to describe the experience of ongoing abuse within an intimate partner relationship which may be physical but which may also be emotional, financial, or psychological.13 Coercive control has been criminalized in England and Wales since 2015 and in Ireland and Scotland since 2018. Modern definitions of coercive control open up additional ways of understanding domestic abuse and additional behaviours which we might look for in our ancient material (see further E. Cowan, R. Cowan and K. Parkin in this volume).14 Men perpetrate familial massacres, killing spouse and children together; women do not. Men commonly hunt down and kill wives who have left them; women hardly ever behave similarly. Men kill wives as part of planned murder-suicides; analogous acts by women are almost unheard of. Men kill in response to revelations of wifely infidelity; women almost their are more (Dobash The and violence is not a In R. Dobash and study was on their experience working across the USA and their now study as A the have that and an its been and since the there is now a of in of as a which to violence. This has been in by the by recognition of (and increasingly to violence and and also by a recognition of the of domestic violence. In March the United the on the of that is so are here to and the United with women and The term is used and within as a of to understand and the and and of the experience of women (and across and over in the experience of violence. The relationship and violence is and Women’s experience of and violence, especially domestic violence, is Domestic violence is a victims are women are they are almost by male intimate women are victims of coercive control, the is This is not to that women can be perpetrators of violence. as most women kill their when they their or the of their children, are in men kill their when they their of and power is a is a of the that than or the which to seek to understand and domestic abuse. we should look beyond the of victims and perpetrators we are to understand the of domestic violence. In her of and violence as a of as a for understanding and violence. and to of the and violence: (a) The power (b) the term a (c) the ways in which the of has been have men as a a of for violence by women or men and this help us understand a men violence women in as In place of as or social the need for a awareness of the and variations in In that, in order to understand the behaviour of men who violence, is to reveal how men are in their of especially to other that abusive male behaviour may be not as but as a of As on contemporary Australian abuse women Men abuse women they are to be in that one of is that men to power power over when their or experience of in may be that of As Australian study Men have been a brought up to that as as they the of they would be with power and by how they to work for that (and for especially men under it Men can on a for and that work will a with a of men are and that the the not what was to some of are to their as a place to their This is we need to is the experience of violence which the term or to than other such as which have been used in its that, in where of may be to of may of for violence women it the on and It also the of violence women in social rather than For our study of the Roman where we in case more than not capacity to of this is especially helpful to In many important ancient has to the in which male power and control was or be and to was also a particular and or variety of one in which the power and control over of household, including not but also those within (the power of the over those within legal control, including the power of and Roman familial the and of Roman the to the (the to the of the the and to the or the it was the multiple of Roman most The Roman some of the ancient most children, with and physical the and the the Roman household, of as well as and people, was of control, and or the experience of of each may have more or control, on the and of other of the household, the and imbalances of and and male and the possibility, the of of all physical and the at the of the experience of abuse is in this volume by down to the at the (see by and the Roman was relationships by control and in this volume also seek to an context for domestic violence by on the nature of family and violence and The nature of of is highly in the realities of domestic violence in an ancient as has a male was to be by at the the and from others, but a for The for this volume from It is a rather the of and is as been in the at the age of 16 by her in other was by her is one of victims of domestic abuse in our ancient and the wives of the of the of a most the of in up her the world to the also of her and how been in the of control and in the Roman household, the of the Roman The and power and of the Roman has In a marriage which was a Roman under the of her In such a marriage a Roman legal over property or the marriage a of to that the realities of each may from the there was a high that wives would do which or might their or which or might draw to In other a might not to control might well to or control her or at the to and to what extent was to control her and to at those when that her behaviour or or The of in which and in their marriage and in which was not that this was an this as the that the Roman of as her not It is important also to the ways in which what it to be a or be an for but might also the and which which around a Roman and which and by Roman her as and and and one was to be and all be in ways which or a woman who was not to up to Roman women those from the have been by as there is to indicate that or in women from domestic violence and coercive control by in this well or legal a woman from a of domestic abuse. Domestic violence can in of relationship. to a experience in particular the legal picture of the Roman as to her the fact that not of her children after and the fact that her economic from her family is in most to have left her and rather than the and child abuse can hardly have been from the Roman but they are to in Roman legal and in the Roman not at when it to the that the might power over and and all Roman and perpetrators of domestic a of might this The power and its was wider for some Roman of than it was for of the Roman and in relationships by power a in for and psychological abuse and coercive control. The of the Roman and the control of as well as property, but there are some that there to place on abusive and the of is legislation, which is for criminalizing sexual and for to a for behaviour but which also sought (and was as to the of other at the seek to and the under which a kill or a punish an In they to an ongoing Roman to control the of by the of the and by other The Roman of and by family to each other but especially to the and to the also in this us that but not the as and with the of including in Roman legal should not how a and and to have who their children on a who killed for power to be not that forced a to a was in of the of the the and of the as well as the which be brought to by the are as a on the behaviour of the the case of century as one in which the sought to the was to place on power when to on the behaviour of the to and sought their on the case in addition to and a to It is that here we public of was behaviour and a public to which be The case that to act to and to act was well that have been and A on the behaviour’ of the in many have by some at to have been a domestic violence and coercive control. of how the should is not the as a recognition that such should not in the first One additional for to or abuse which is the work of of women in (and other women of and Roman women are in the The made public as well as domestic of women who in the of children or the and their children, and have provided for women to and including domestic abuse the of is to have within rather than to or women find ways to their and the of to Domestic violence in where there is of power and of violence, which not physical violence but which also the of and a in and are for abuse of all is to that domestic violence was in the Roman world. This volume to that by case of the transcultural and transhistorical experience of domestic abuse and to open the for further and of the on the of which was by the United on that should violence women and should not or to their with to its is for domestic abuse. and there will attempt to or study the domestic abuse of the should an for from criminal on the (and of the for and a helpful of the in which we might study domestic abuse in the ancient world. The the for in the case of was to an which be used to the actions of the the has been a of many legal it provided a by during the or in the of modern be to recognize the multiple ways in which an and actions might be by or in their or its the all of the to a and the to be so as not to an from a particular of the of the include the to a liberty, and protection of the who from other are to it is on legal to take the of the human rights all have an to the to should such to perpetrators of uxoricide and domestic The has been by who that the is as that and have on human nature which have the of women and the of an or to women with or kill their violent the has to with violence women and children by men who who are as this violence as in of their One of the most important for the of a was the abuse of especially have been that men who out such acts of wives or or women who are by male to have to the have sought to a in order to their and or their are it should be that to is since are on and are of are for women a particular of and for men a meaningful context for violent and are likely to for men in the of their actions and for women in who they This of with a wider of criminal that can women with but to their men the additional to or In it is that domestic violence and other the the experience of women from a particular and those from the The of the cases as is not that they are or by a but that men kill what they view as or In the the more is a killing or The that the of extends beyond that of or spouse constitutes an but is by the of violence towards women of some sexual or to violence towards women is not a domestic abuse as the of particular or particular or the experience of victims and with and of of women are killed every year around the world by their and for a an or to the are in the and as or of they in In the view of the of this there is for domestic abuse in the ancient Roman world. This is a of our also with in this was a in violence, and was a highly The of and the of public and to and and other forms of violence the and world of ancient and Roman and discussions of and violence in the ancient and modern have to some important but also our experience of violence and the of those we as and and Modern and modern are and kill from a most of by violence is not a or part of our public spaces or Our of public violence and our or experiencing violence may that we than would an ancient Roman when or experiencing the as has is to the of As on and to what extent in the ancient world might experience and it is as a of potential further the which are to be and domestic the there are to that the of violence and abuse in this volume are more as transhistorical than is violence. modern domestic and psychological than to that experienced by victims and in the ancient world. A Australian on attitudes to violence women that of violence women across of and that all it has in power imbalances and is to that this violence is also and many of the in this volume and attitudes which are by us as domestic abuse, their from us in the and to the the of the of domestic violence within a relationship is the of the by a who has been her intimate and definitions of domestic violence and coercive control of abusive behaviour which can many be on to our ancient evidence. The current the criminalization of coercive control highlights the of criminalizing patterns of behaviour in intimate relationships and to the of domestic violence for and this ways in which to our of the ancient experience of forced and those in the Roman world. The statistics for domestic violence and the impact that such violence has on the of of victims child us that there is to be and to be we to when our ancient evidence. This is a we to this For those of us and with some of this of the which are most to our and which may to their to be not and but also an act of in that it the potential impact of domestic violence on our and the ways in which it will their of the evidence under than domestic violence and coercive control in their for such as those provided by and and they may further our Roman legal the of domestic violence in ancient a for of and and the and and and to a It might also a of discussions of male of violence at and in and public violence and around our Roman evidence that public and as well as the capacity for women to property, and the of the can a in or of violence. One important be in this volume on a experience of domestic violence. have that, in the modern domestic abuse in relationships also for the but more work to be to investigate the experience of abuse in in the modern as well as the ancient of to we to one other from our project on ancient domestic violence, and that is the workshops we have with and on the of As part of the which has to this Cowan, and Cowan a on with at the of in The was at of and and ancient history who working with which ancient and material which of violence, domestic abuse, intimate partner violence, or It was by discussions with a of including teachers, and we would like to particular to and for their in the as well as to and for and our and to all from Australia and who in the We are also to the of of and to the and for their financial and for this One of the which from this was that across and to in the classroom and further and to help to do The and are as a first in not in Australia but to with this when but also using this material is important in and and students can to seek help indicative is provided at the of this section in that there are difficult in this material and for students may need to take the in this behaviour as the context for the material recognize that, for a of the fact that in the Roman will not abuse or it of such as this one from the National in Australia on in with students working on this material every is for and for to that difficult be in with three that this is a for psychological classroom which and and a need to our that do not the difficult where with or but that some in by the what the a to a difficult first and consider for that and in the who may be by their or what or a at which help to set classroom and what advice and is for and students. and how to and students for what is and for and together the and the that there may be a of and in the work has to a set of and in a to the of the the arises in the of that are to with the that is the and that students will need to encounter the students with of a from multiple students at students at using evidence to an the the to of the to the students. with the The material in this volume and to this is for students and We aim here to the types of we all need to be for and for our we here to and Australian of Domestic how to help National are in and for the and are on a to have to the The National Domestic is a Men can on to to or the at to and to for and Men can also on to to as can on for emotional and can on to to forced marriage and can also to to the Forced of Australian to help and for victims of domestic abuse and violence: Australian family and domestic violence: is in and on need to to can or using the a and domestic violence Women’s NSW Domestic Women’s response and Domestic Women’s Domestic Domestic

Computer security · Vulnerability (computing) · Computer Science · History · Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies

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