ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 is dealing with forces which threatened the oikos. Section 6.2 discusses the dissolution of the marriage through a divorce, the methods of divorce as well as its frequency and implications for the Athenian family and society as a whole. The next section discusses adultery, it’s legal definition, the various legal procedures and possibilities related with it, the penalties and the wider implications of this phenomenon for Athenian society. I argue that while Greek law viewed adultery as a sexual offence, it viewed rape as a crime of violence. The next section explores the impact which the large and diverse markets of prostitution had on Athenian society, the legal provisions regulating prostitution, and the evolution of these provisions along with massive social changes from Solon to the 4th century.
