ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 discusses Athenian inheritance law, how it affected family relations and how it shaped the life in the oikos, and in extension the life in the polis. Section 5.2 discusses direct succession by legitimate sons and explores family relations between fathers and sons. The next section discusses succession by legitimate daughters, and it includes an exploration of the institution of the dowry from a legal and social perspective. That section on the heiress (epikleros) explores the legal rights and responsibilities of women in households without a male heir, and their relatives. Section 5.5 discusses the legal position, rights and place of illegitimate children in family and society, within the broader frame of an ever-changing definition of what it meant to be illegitimate. I argue that the concept of illegitimate birth was not a constant throughout the classical period, but that it was shaped by changes in the law and the historical circumstances of Athenian families. The final section deals with adoption and succession by means of a will.
