Captatio in law, life and literature : a study of the topos of inheritance-hunting in the context of Roman testamentary legislation and social practice

Sharland, Suzanne

Captatio in law, life and literature : a study of the topos of inheritance-hunting in the context of Roman testamentary legislation and social practice

Master Thesis

1991

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Classical Studies

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

"Captatio and the captator are stock elements of literature and undoubtedly existed in life, but as actual practice and figure in Roman society they are nearly impossible to identify" (Champlin 1989: 212). Captatio (inheritancehunting), as it appears in Latin literature, can be defined as the systematic courtship of elderly, preferably sickly or dying, childless wealthy people by social adventurers known as captatores, with the aim of gaining inheritances from these people by will. The methods by which this is shown to be achieved include gift-giving, salutatio, sexual favours, flattery etc. Roman literature suggests that this practice often took place within the exchange network of amicitia. This thesis examines captatio, as presented in the Latin literature of the early Empire, in the context of definable legal and social structures. It is not so much the purpose of this study to decide whether captatio existed or was a purely literary conceit, as to examine this literary topos in its broader context.

Keywords

Classical Studies

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