Let me try to recapitulate the main themes that have been discussed in the context of the issues raised at the outset. In the last chapters on the eastern Mediterranean I aimed to link aspects of the processes of production and reproduction in Europe with those of Asia. Following a course from East to West, I have looked at the major societies of Asia, that is, China, India, the Near East, attempted to draw out some general aspects of devolution and marriage, then tried to connect these patterns not only with the earlier Europe of the Classical world but also with more recent studies of part of the same area, that is, of Greece and Albania. I deliberately came to Europe from the direction if not necessarily the perspective of the East in order to try to avoid some of the assumptions about the Uniqueness of the West that have dominated both the popular and the academic approach to family, kinship and marriage. Despite the changes that Christianity and Islam brought about there are significant continuities in some of these practices, not only across Eurasia but also between the ancient and modern world. Indeed religious practices and beliefs are in an interesting way part of that broad continuity.

Women as property

I began this enquiry by discussing the position of women in relation to property in the major societies of West and South Asia, leading on to the ancient and modern Near East.