On The Structure of Greek Tribal Society

On The Structure of Greek Tribal Society, An Essay, is by Hugh E. Seebohm, and its contents list includes a chapter called The Meaning Of The Bond Of Kinship. The contents list gives sections on The Duty Of Maintenance Of Parents During Life, And After Death At Their Tomb, The Duty Of Providing Male Succession and The Liability For Bloodshed.

The text says that Frazer, in his article in the Journal of Philology on the resemblance of the Prytaneum in Greece to the Temple of Vesta in Rome, shows that both had a direct connection with, if not an absolute origin in, the domestic hearth of the chieftain. The text says the basis of tribal coherence was community of blood, actual or supposed. The text notes that throughout all the extant speeches of Isaeus dealing with the disposal of κλῆροι of dead citizens, not a single case turns upon evidence for or against a sale or transfer of property. The same speeches all deal exclusively with family matters, and the line of argument always leads to the proof of near kinship by blood or adoption to the previous owner.