Spurii and the Roman View of Illegitimacy

‘Illegitimacy has been called a social problem for the last two centuries and a moral problem from time immemorial’ (Laslett 1980: 1). Many studies of ancient Roman society have dwelt on morals, and many texts of Roman law give much detail on family law and the law of persons. By contrast with studies of modern law and society, however, there has been little focus on the ‘idea’ of illegitimacy in ancient Rome and no extended discussion of what was involved in being an illegitimate child in that society.