The Herodians and Mediterranean Kinship Part I: Genealogy and Descent

Abstract

This is the first of a three-part, cross-cultural study analyzing kinship in the ancient Mediterranean world. The Herodian family serves as a test case for analyzing Jewish kinship structures and family systems of the Second Temple period, and thus providing the data for an analysis of biblical kinship. In this first part, the focus is on genealogy and descent and the symbolic values they communicate. The major family types operant in the Roman Empire are placed within the analytic framework articulated by the anthropologist Emmanuel Todd.