Friendship, Kinship and Enmity

by

Zeba Crook

• LAST REVIEWED: 16 December 2022
• LAST MODIFIED: 22 April 2020
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195393361-0011

Introduction

Friendship in any age is a difficult concept to pin down. What constitutes friendship? What is true friendship? What is the difference between friends and acquaintances? More complex even is the use of the language of friendship in relationships where feelings of friendship are absent. Friendship is a feeling, a rhetorical topos, and an institution with culture-specific rules. Friendship in the Greek and Roman periods (which include of course the biblical periods and cultures) is complex because of the highly stratified social structure of the ancient Mediterranean. Ancient writers struggled with the question of whether friendship could transcend social strata, and their feelings on the matter are a point of contention among modern scholars. By and large, there appears to be a consensus that while Aristotle, the earliest to theorize on friendship, thought that it could only occur between two people of equal social status, by the Hellenistic era friendship could happen between status unequals. That this is the case is suggested by the angst reflected in ancient writings concerning the ability to distinguish friends from flatterers (Plutarch in particular). Yet, it complicates considerably our ability to know whether ancient writers mean real affective friendship language when they use friendship language to describe relationships of dependence and patronage. What is more, friendship language becomes intertwined with kinship, especially in groups whose members feel closely united. There, the language of fictive kinship is used to denote a collection of people with presumably strong and positive feelings for one another. After all, friendship is a form of voluntary kinship—one generally chooses one’s friends, and there may be some people with whom one is friendly for nearly an entire lifetime, as with kin. And of course, friendship can be reflected or echoed in texts even where the precise language is not used. Finally, ancient writers also reveal an abiding concern with friendships that end in what we might call enmity. As we do, they recognized that friends can be fickle and that friendships can reach a breaking point.

Modern Theory

By and large, friendship is under-theorized in sociology and anthropology. Many works discuss and presuppose friendship, but it is less commonly a subject of study in and of itself. Suttles 1970 establishes the sociological interest in friendship, but it is Boissevain 1974 that introduces friendship as a social category worthy of study, and that unites an interest in friendship with network theory. Bell and Coleman 1999 and Howell and Stambaugh 2010 confirm that the influence of Boissevain continues to the present day. Allan 1979 importantly combines the study of friendship with the study of kinship and class. At a time when the trend was to see friendship in overly romantic hues, Wolf 1966 shows that friendship without symmetrical exchange quickly turns into patronage, which should not be confused with friendship. Eisenstadt and Roniger 1984 continues in the tradition set by Wolf, and both of these works are extremely influential on scholars of ancient Mediterranean social values.

• Allan, Graham A. A Sociology of Friendship and Kinship. London: Allen & Unwin, 1979.

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  Explores the interplay between friendship and kinship, especially as it relates to class and social structure.

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• Bell, Sandra, and Simon Coleman, eds. The Anthropology of Friendship. New York: Berg, 1999.

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  A variety of theoretical and anthropological area studies on friendship, kinship, and networks.

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• Boissevain, Jeremy. Friends of Friends: Networks, Manipulators, and Coalitions. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1974.

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  The classic work introducing the theory of network and the benefit of networks analysis.

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• Eisenstadt, S. R., and L. Roniger. Patrons, Clients, and Friends: Interpersonal Relations and the Structure of Trust in Society. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

  DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511557743Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A very influential work on modern Mediterranean culture. Explores in depth the interrelationship and subtle distinctions between patronage, clientage, and friendship.

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• Howell, Britteny M., and Melony L. Stambaugh. “Social Relationships.” In 21st Century Anthropology: A Reference Handbook. Edited by H. James Birx. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2010.

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  An overview of modern scholarship on social support systems, including friendship and networks (7 August 2012).

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• Suttles, Gerald D. “Friendship as a Social Institution.” In Social Relationships. Edited by George J. McCall, Michal M. McCall, Norman K. Denzin, Gerald D. Suttles, and Suzanne B. Kurth, 95–135. Chicago: Aldine, 1970.

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  An influential post-WWII sociology of friendship.

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• Wolf, Eric R. “Kinship, Friendship, and Patron–Client Relations in Complex Societies.” In The Social Anthropology of Complex Societies. Edited by M. Banton, 1–22. London: Tavistock, 1966.

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  Stresses the importance of balanced reciprocity, for without it, friendships morph into relationships of patronage.

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Encyclopedias and Handbooks

Oxford Classical Dictionary has several (too short) entries covering various aspects of ancient friendship (saying very little about Roman friendship): Price 2016 on love and friendship in Greek sources, Herman 2016 on Greek friendship, Scullard and Lintott 2016 on Roman friendship. Most of the entries are extremely short, but contain a few useful bibliographical items. Conversely, Verboven 2011 offers a very thorough treatment of the issues involved in Roman friendship and has a very good bibliography on the topic. Likewise excellent is Keener 2000 for classical, Judean, New Testament settings. Stählin 1974 is also a very thorough introduction to the topic. As mentioned above, it is surprising how few dictionaries of the Bible and Mediterranean antiquity include entries for friendship. Gehrke 2004 and von Reibnitz 2004 both offer short entries in the always excellent New Pauly.

• Gehrke, Hans-Joachim. “Friendship: Social History.” In Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Vol. 5. Edited by Hubert Cancik, August Pauly, Christine F. Salazar, and Helmuth Schneider, 552–554. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2004.

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  An excellent resource for primary source references. Situates friendship in the honor-focused and agonistic environment of antiquity.

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• Herman, Gabriel. “Friendship, Greece.” In The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Digital edition. Edited by S. Goldberg. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

  DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2727Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Emphasizes the broad semantic range of the Greek language of friendship and their self-awareness of strengthening the bonds of friendship by increasing the number of social ties. Originally published in 1996, Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth, eds., The Oxford Classical Dictionary.

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• Keener, Craig S. “Friendship.” In Dictionary of New Testament Background. Edited by Craig A. Evans and Stanley E. Porter, 380–388. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

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  Excellent survey of primary and secondary sources in Greek, Roman, Judean, and New Testament texts. Clear on the complex nature of ancient friendship, especially as it pertains to political friendship.

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• Price, A.W. “Love and Friendship.” In The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Digital ed. Edited by S. Goldberg. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

  DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.3772Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A short survey of Greek sources relating friendship to eudaimonia (happiness). Originally published in 1996, Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth, eds., The Oxford Classical Dictionary.

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• Scullard, H. H., and A. W. Lintott. “Amicitia.” In The Oxford Classical Dictionary, Digital ed. Edited by S. Goldberg. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

  DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.357Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A short entry on Roman (mostly) political friendships. Originally published in 1996, Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth, eds., The Oxford Classical Dictionary.

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• Stählin, Gustav. “Fi/loj, Fi/lh, Fili/a.” In Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Vol. IX. Edited by Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley and Gerhard Friedrich, 146–171. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974.

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  Excellent source on the philological issues pertaining to the vocabulary of friendship, and a good summary of friendship in antiquity.

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• Verboven, Koenraad. “Friendship Among the Romans.” In The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations in the Roman World. Edited by Michael Peachin, 404–421. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

  DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195188004.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Focuses on Roman friendship conventions (e.g., trust, goodwill), patronage, social practice. Contains a very good bibliography.

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• von Reibnitz, Barbara. “Friendship: Philosophy.” In Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Vol. 5. Edited by Hubert Cancik, August Pauly, Christine F. Salazar, and Helmuth Schneider, 555–557. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2004.

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  A short survey of attitudes toward friendship in the major Greek and Latin philosophical works.

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Major Primary Sources

The Greek language of friendship is built on the phil- stem: philos (friend), philia (friendliness, love), and phileō (to love). The Latin language of friendship is built on the amic- stem: amici (friend), amicitia (friendship). These are all extremely common words, of course, so a word search is not always the best way to find ancient sources on friendship. The following authors are our principal contributors to ancient views of friendship (commentary, analysis, and summaries on them can be found in Konstan 1997 and Fitzgerald 1997, cited under Scholarly Sources). Translations of the ancient sources listed here are best found in the Loeb Classical Library series. See also The Iliad, Nicomachean Ethics, On Friendship, Memorabilia, On Friendship, How to Tell a Flatterer from a Friend, Letters, and Toxaris or Friendship.

• Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by H. Rackham. Loeb Classical Library 73. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1926.

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  Aristotle (4th century BCE) was the first to write comprehensively about friendship. Friendship was based on equality and mutuality of social status, reciprocal exchange, and feelings of goodwill. Aristotle distinguishes among three forms of friendship: that grounded in virtue, that grounded in pleasure, and that grounded in utility. For Aristotle, only the first is true friendship.

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• Cicero. “On Friendship.” In On Old Age. On Friendship. On Divination. Translated by W. A. Falconer. Loeb Classical Library 154. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1923.

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  Cicero (1st century BCE) was the most attentive writer to friendship in Latin. Friendship was both emotional and practical: all around him friendships and alliances were a safety net, in the best-case scenario. Yet this practical element did not render friendship unemotional. Cicero wrote this treatise on friendship, but he also wrote hundreds of letters to friends that reveal friendship in practice.

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• Homer. The Iliad. Translated by A. T. Murray and William F. Wyatt. Loeb Classical Library 170. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1924.

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  The term philos (in Homer, 8th century bce), the precise meaning of which is hotly debated, is an adjective that is used as a substantive occasionally. Either way, it has to do with friendliness generally. Further, the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is not only clearly one of endearing friendship, but it also becomes emblematic of friendship for later Greek writers.

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• Horace. “Letters.” In Satires, Letters, The Art of Poetry. Translated by H. R. Fairclough. Loeb Classical Library 194. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1926.

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  Horace (1st century CE) provides an interesting case because, while he was known to lampoon friendship (and how it could overlap with patronage and the poor treatment of clients), he also appears to have had a legendary intimacy with his literary patron, Maecenas.

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• Lucian. “Toxaris or Friendship.” In The Passing of Peregrinus. The Runaways. Toxaris or Friendship. The Dance. Lexiphanes. The Eunuch. Astrology. The Mistaken Critic. The Parliament of the Gods. The Tyrannicide. Disowned. Translated by A. M. Harmon. Loeb Classical Library 302. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936.

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  Lucian (2nd century CE) creates a fictional dialogue in which two characters exchange fantastic stories on friendship. The result arguably is a lucianic critique of traditional male friendship.

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• Plutarch. “How to Tell a Flatterer from a Friend.” In Moralia. Translated by Frank Cole Babbitt. Loeb Classical Library 197. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1927.

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  Plutarch (1st–2nd century CE) was worried that in unequal friendships, elite people were susceptible to flattery by lower status people seeking access to their material wealth and prestige under the guise of friendship. He argued that the test of true friendship is frankness of speech.

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• Theophrastus. “On Friendship.” In Theophrastus of Eresus: Sources for His Life, Thought, and Influence. Translated by W. W. Fortenbaugh, et al. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1992.

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  Theophrastus (3rd century BCE) adopts the taxonomy of Aristotle but presses more deeply about the possibility of friendship between superior and inferior. This work cannot be found in a Loeb translation.

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• Xenophon. “Memorabilia.” In Memorabilia. Oeconomicus. Symposium. Apology. Translated by E. C. Marchant and O. J. Todd. Loeb Classical Library 168. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.

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  Xenophon (4th century BCE) illustrates how even in early Greek sources, friendship overlapped in a complicated manner with politics. Philos in Xenophon frequently carries the connotation of ally better than the connotation of personal friendship.

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Scholarly Sources

Scholarship on friendship in the Greek and Roman world can largely be divided into three categories: works like Syme 1960 and Hutter 1978, which stress the practical over the affective or emotional aspects of ancient friendship, works like Saller 1989 and Nicols 2001, which stress the slippage between friendship and patronage, and works like Konstan 1997, which reacts against these by stressing the intimate and emotional characteristics. All recognize, however, that friendship in antiquity was extremely complex (and changed much over its history). This is illustrated well by the collection of essays covering a broad array of ancient Greek sources, including Philo and the New Testament, found in Fitzgerald 1997, as well in Mustakallio and Krötzl 2009, a more recent and expansive collection of essays. Fitzgerald 1996 oversees a collection of essays inspired by Plutarch’s abiding concern—the problem of distinguishing true friends from flatterers, and the role of frank speech in doing so.

• Fitzgerald, John T., ed. Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech: Studies on Friendship in the New Testament World. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1996.

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  Essays in this collection look at the ancient language of friendship and frankness of speech, and then turn to this topic as it appears in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

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• Fitzgerald, John T., ed. Greco-Roman Perspectives on Friendship. SBL Resources for Biblical Study 34. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997.

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  An excellent and groundbreaking collection of essays on friendship in many ancient sources.

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• Hutter, Horst. Politics as Friendship: The Origins of Classical Notions of Politics in the Theory and Practice of Friendship. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid University Press, 1978.

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  One of the earliest works to emphasize the political aspect of ancient friendship. Though this position has been challenged by Konstan, it still carries much force.

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• Konstan, David. Friendship in the Classical World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

  DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511612152Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  The first English-language comprehensive study of friendship in the ancient Mediterranean. Emphasizes the affective element of friendship.

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• Mustakallio, Katariina, and C. Krötzl, eds. De Amicitia: Friendship and Social Networks in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Rome: Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae, 2009.

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  This collection of essays covers much thematic and temporal ground: Mediterranean antiquity to Medieval Europe, from friendship to gender to kinship to networking, in political, rhetorical, and philosophical settings alike.

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• Nicols, J. “Hospitium and Political Friendship in the Late Republic.” In Aspects of Friendship in the Graeco-Roman World. Edited by Maria Letizia Caldelli and Michael Peachin, 99–108. Portsmouth, UK: Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2001.

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  Looks in depth at a number of concrete examples of so-called friendships in Roman sources, especially ones involving hospitium.

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• Saller, R. “Patronage and Friendship in Early Imperial Rome: Drawing the Distinction.” In Patronage in Ancient Society. Edited by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, 49–62. London: Routledge, 1989.

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  Stresses how difficult it can be always to discern between friendship and patronage, since the language of friendship was ubiquitous in patronal relationships.

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• Syme, Ronald. The Roman Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960.

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  Argues that friendship is not an emotional institution, but rather a relationship of political expediency.

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Friendship in Ancient Judaism

Studies on friendship in ancient Judean sources were rare until Olyan 2017, but not completely lacking. Lapsley 2004 imagines Moses as a friend of God; Tull 2004 recounts the lengthy and complex Jonathan and David narratives; Corley 2002 explores Ben Sira (as does Olyan 2017); Sterling 1997, Philo’s reliance on the Stoics; Habel 1977, Job; and Davies 2010, wisdom in general. Schwartz 2010 works to distinguish Judean from broader Mediterranean culture, while Olyan is clear that his study is of friendship in the Hebrew Bible, not friendship in ancient Israel. McCready 2000 relates modern sociological work on networks and sectarian recruitment to friendship and ancient Judean sects. In so doing, the author follows the tradition set by Konstan 1997 (cited under Scholarly Sources), which emphasized intimacy and affection as defining characteristics of friendship in that period.

• Corley, Jeremy. Ben Sira’s Teaching on Friendship. Brown Judaic Studies 316. Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies, 2002.

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  This study of friendship language in Ben Sira follows four themes through the work’s teaching on friendship: the goodness of friendship, caution in friendship, faithfulness toward friends, and, most importantly, the fear of God.

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• Davies, Graham I. “The Ethics of Friendship in Wisdom Literature.” In Ethical and Unethical in the Old Testament: God and Humans in Dialogue. Edited by Katherine Dell, 135–150. London: T & T Clark, 2010.

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  A fine survey of ideas of friendship throughout ancient Jewish wisdom literature.

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• Habel, Norman. “Only the Jackal Is My Friend: On Friends and Redeemers in Job.” Interpretation 31 (1977): 227–234.

  DOI: 10.1177/002096437703100301Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  An interesting theological analysis of the complex relationship between Job and his friends.

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• Lapsley, Jacqueline E. “Friends with God? Moses and the Possibility of Covenantal Friendship.” Interpretation 58 (2004): 117–129.

  DOI: 10.1177/002096430405800202Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A theological reflection on how friendship is a better way of relating to God than obedience. Coins the phrase “covenantal friendship.”

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• McCready, Wayne O. “Friendship and Second Temple Sectarianism.” In Text and Artifact in the Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity. Edited by Steven G. Wilson and Michel Desjardins, 402–422. Waterloo, ON: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2000.

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  Looks to the function of friendship in the recruitment and retention of converts to Second-Temple Judean sects.

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• Olyan, Saul M. Friendship in the Hebrew Bible. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017.

  DOI: 10.12987/yale/9780300182682.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Opens with a thorough analysis of the complexities of Hebrew biblical friendship vocabulary, followed by chapters on friendship and family, failed friendship, friendship in narrative and in Ben Sira.

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• Schwartz, S. Were the Jews a Mediterranean Society? Reciprocity and Solidarity in Ancient Judaism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010.

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  Schwartz argues that Judean culture operated with some degree of tension within and against Greco-Roman culture with respect to, among other social institutions, friendship.

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• Sterling, Gregory E. “The Bond of Humanity: Friendship in Philo of Alexandria.” In Greco-Roman Perspectives on Friendship. Edited by John T. Fitzgerald, 203–223. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997.

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  Philo was influenced by Stoic notions of friendship (fragmentary though they are), particularly as they pertain to goodwill, the limits of friendship, and the unity of humanity.

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• Tull, Patricia K. “Jonathan’s Gift of Friendship.” Interpretation 58 (2004): 130–143.

  DOI: 10.1177/002096430405800203Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A theological reflection on what readers might learn from the David and Jonathan story about the challenges of friendship.

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Friendship in the New Testament

Mitchell 1997 opened current interest in the ancient culture of friendship. Johnson 2004 follows the theme of sharing, which of course friends do. Mitchell and Johnson cover a broad spectrum of texts. Rhoads 1998, on the other hand, focuses attention on the letter of James, as does Batten 2010 to a much greater extent. There are also a number of studies that focus on friendship in the letters of Paul. Though it opens with a summary of scholarship, Fitzgerald 2003 comments in some detail on most of the undisputed letters of Paul, even while noticing that the Greek words for friendship do not appear in Paul’s letter, and that Paul tends to prefer the language of kinship. White 2003, in a focus on Galatians, brings together interests in friendship and rhetoric. Stowers 1986 looks in detail at the conventions of letters of friendship. Engberg-Pedersen 2008 uses some of the work on unequal friendship to look at the way gifts and loans relate, especially where status intervenes.

• Batten, Alicia. Friendship and Benefaction in James. Blandford Forum, UK: Deo, 2010.

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  One of the few, and the best, book-length treatments of the rhetoric of friendship and its relationship to asymmetrical exchange.

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• Engberg-Pedersen, Troels. “Gift-giving and Friendship: Seneca and Paul in Romans 1–8 on the Logic of God’s Charis and Its Human Response.” Harvard Theological Review 101 (2008): 15–44.

  DOI: 10.1017/S0017816008001715Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Looks at the important difference between gifting and lending, made more complicated by the complex system of reciprocity that always attends the exchange of gifts.

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• Fitzgerald, John T. “Paul and Friendship.” In Paul in the Greco-Roman World: A Handbook. Edited by J. Paul Sampley, 319–343. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2003.

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  An excellent survey of friendship imagery in Paul’s letters in the context of ancient Greek notions of friendship. Strong on primary sources.

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• Johnson, Luke Timothy. “Making Connections: The Material Expression of Friendship in the New Testament.” Interpretation 58 (2004): 158–171.

  DOI: 10.1177/002096430405800205Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Johnson argues that throughout the New Testament, a society of friendship is generated through the construction of a community that holds all things in common.

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• Mitchell, Alan C. “‘Greet the Friends by Name’: New Testament Evidence for the Greco-Roman Topos on Friendship.” In Greco-Roman Perspectives on Friendship. Edited by John T. Fitzgerald, 225–262. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997.

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  Has a survey of studies on friendship and the New Testament (up to 1997 of course).

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• Rhoads, David M. “The Letter of James: Friend of God.” Currents in Theology and Mission 25 (1998): 473–486.

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  James exhorts those at risk of falling away from the community to become friends of God, the primary characteristics of which are loyalty and attentiveness.

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• Stowers, S. K. Letter Writing in Greco-Roman Antiquity. Library of Early Christianity 5. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986.

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  Offers an important section and many observations on friendship and ancient letter-writing conventions.

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• White, L. Michael. “Rhetoric and Reality in Galatians: Framing the Social Demands of Friendship.” In Early Christianity and Classical Culture: Comparative Studies in Honor of Abraham J. Malherbe. Edited by John T. Fitzgerald, Thomas H. Olbricht, and L. Michael White, 307–346. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2003.

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  Examines how the friendship topos of Galatians 4:11–20, wherein Paul expresses displeasure for the failure to respond appropriately to him as friend and patron, frames elements of the argumentation strategy throughout the letter.

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Fictive Kinship

Fictive kinship, as described in Pitt-Rivers 1973, pertains where people gather in groups and where the level of concord, intimacy, and loyalty (whether in ideal or in actuality), is such that they use the language of kinship to describe their relationships with each other: brothers and sisters for members, father for the leader. Fictive kin groups will not only use the language of kinship to describe relationships, but their very structure might also reflect that of the family: father in command, members as relative equals, like brothers and sisters. Fictive kinship is also a very broad category, admitting in fact to several types of fictive kinship. Pitt-Rivers 1968 refers to these as figurative (e.g., the casual use of “son” by a superior, involving some affection, but not implying any long-term bond), fictive (e.g., a daughter’s husband is adopted in order to inherit what sons would have; even standard adoption), and ritualized (e.g., compadrazgo, or godparentage in the Latin American Catholic community; blood-brotherhood). Schneider 1984 warns against the usefulness of the term fictive kinship altogether, and by and large, the term has fallen into disuse among anthropologists and social theorists because it makes assumptions about the dynamics of true kinship, which the term fictive kinship is meant to contrast, and makes assumptions about the broad cross-cultural applicability of such dynamics. Fictive kin bonds could be every bit as powerful and enduring as true kinship bonds. Nonetheless, it is possible to be aware of the term’s limitations and still find the term useful for referring to a particular phenomenon among groups of non-kin. As an illustration, Pitt-Rivers 1968 claims that the “institutions of ritual kinship do not flourish in modern urban society” (p. 412), but any analysis of modern street gangs and quite possibly the military reveals that the constructive and conscious use of fictive kinship language survives.

• Pitt-Rivers, Julian. “Pseudo-Kinship.” In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Edited by David L. Sills. New York: Macmillan and Free Press, 1968.

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  A classic cross-cultural (though dated) explanation of the varieties of fictive kinship.

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• Pitt-Rivers, Julian “The Kith and Kin.” In The Character of Kinship. Edited by Jack Goody, 89–105. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1973.

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  Kinship had been characterized as a relationship involving amity and friendship, and fictive kinship is said to involve the “amiable.” But key to the point made by Pitt-Rivers is that this amiability can be real or feigned, as long as it is expressed.

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• Schneider, David M. A Critique of the Study of Kinship. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1984.

  DOI: 10.3998/mpub.7203Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Challenges the notion that there is any value is distinguishing between real and fictive kinship.

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Enmity

In the ancient Mediterranean, maxims about friendship and its opposite, enmity, were common: friends help friends and harm enemies; friends strive to outdo each other in kindness to each other and in mischief to their enemies; it is impossible for friends to wrong friends. Enmity is not only the absence of friendship, but also the refusal of and disintegration of friendship. Because of the often-politicized nature of ancient Mediterranean friendship, many recognized that friendships that had ended might also be repaired. It was also widely recognized that enmity was to be avoided, where possible, since personal enmity led to personal hurt and ostracizing, and social enmity led to war and civil strife. Notably, however, this concern among ancient writers has never been a significant point of interest among scholars. Or, to put it differently, most people focus on the friendship aspect of concord and civility, and not on the enmity aspect. What follows is, therefore, not so much a selection of works on enmity, but, arguably, pretty much everything that has been written on enmity in Greek and Roman culture, in the Hebrew Bible, and in the New Testament. Clearly, there is an invitation for further work on this topic.