ABSTRACT
In this final chapter, we wish to draw out a number of general points raised through the book. It is not intended as a summary of the key characteristics of the Roman life course, which have been discussed in the individual chapters already. Instead we raise issues not only for the study of the life course, but also for the more general historical approach to the reading of texts and writing of ancient history and archaeology, as well as some implications of our work for the modern study of gerontology. We wish to stress that the life course was not simply a series of stages that can be studied in isolation from each other; for instance, it is impossible to study Roman childhood without reference to the stages of life from which it is viewed. There is an importance in understanding each stage, or mode of transition between stages, in relationship to the whole life course of a society. For us, the life course should be viewed as an informal social institution that provided a structure to Roman society. The interaction between age cohorts that can only take place via the demographic simulation produced by Richard Saller (1994) aids our understanding of texts or inscriptions that provide information at the specific level of individual action.
