Ancient Law And Modern Understanding: At The Edges; Author: Watson, Alan; Hardback; Book

Author: Watson, Alan
Hardback; Book
168 pages
Published: January 1999
University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820320315

In Ancient Law and Modern Understanding Alan Watson proposes that ancient law is relevant and important for understanding history, theology, sociology, and literature. Law, though technical, he writes, is not remote from scholarship on other matters, and law is a central element in society.From Homeric Greece to present-day Armenia, Watson examines law's influence. Without a sensitivity to technical legal language, scholars of literature or history miss much: the use of puns in Plautus, Sulla's claim that Julius Caesar was descended from a slave, the relationship between theSynoptic Gospels. Legal history is an essential tool for understanding society, Watson argues, but it must be applied with knowledge of how law moves from one society to the next, legal reliance on auBy examining law's influence from Homeric Greece to present-day Armenia, this text concludes that ancient law is both relevant and important for the understanding of history, theology, sociology and literature.