Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 April 2012
1 This is a revised and expanded version of a paper given, under the title ‘Continuity and conflict: the oikos in Athenian inheritance disputes’, at the Fifth Arachne Conference, ‘Oikos / familia: the family in the ancient Greco-Roman world’, University of Gothenburg, November 2009. I am indebted, as ever, to my former Ph.D. supervisor, Professor Chris Carey, for his help both in preparing the original conference paper and in adapting it for publication. I also thank CQ's anonymous reader for suggesting some further improvements.