C. J. Smith is a self-proclaimed fantasy nerd, having spent most of her life immersed in fantasy role-playing games and novels. She holds a Master's Degree in English from Southern New Hampshire University, where her thesis examined the influence of literature in Dungeons & Dragons. She currently resides in Tennessee with her husband and can frequently be found with her nose in a book.

Zusammenfassung
The gens was a key social formation in archaic Rome, yet our understanding of it has been blurred by the myths which it has attracted. The book reconsiders the evidence and compares the ancient sources and modern interpretative models in order to present a new explanation of this important phenomenon.

Inhalt

General introduction; Part I: Introduction; 1. The ancient evidence; 2. Modern interpretations; 3. The gens in the mirror: Roman gens and Attic genos; 4. Archaeology and the gens; Part I conclusion; Part II: 5. The Roman community; 6. The Roman curiae; 7. The patricians and the land; 8. The patriciate; 9. Warfare in the regal and early republican periods; 10. Explaining the gens; 11. Roman history and the modern world; Appendix 1. Dionysius of Halicarnassus on the Roman curiae and religion; Appendix 2. The missing curiae.