An adopted son could not adopt or devise by will, and if he did not provide for the succession by leaving a son to follow him, the property went back into the family and to the next of kin of his adopted father.[90]
If he did return to his former οἶκος, leaving a son in his place and that son died, he could not return and take the property thus left without heir direct.[91]
and also in India.
Adoption amongst the Hindoos took place in like manner before the convened kindred. The adopting father offered a burnt-offering, and with recitation of holy words in the middle of his dwelling completed the adoption with these words:—
“I take thee for the fulfilment of my religious duties; I take thee to continue the line of my ancestors.”[92]
The adopted son should be as near a relation as possible, and when once the ceremony had taken place, was considered to have as completely lost his position in his former family as if he had never been born therein.[93]
The introduction to the deme.
The introduction into the deme which took place at the age of eighteen at Athens, including the enrolment in the ληξιαρχικόν γραμματεῖον, seems to have been a registration of rights of property and an assumption of the full status of citizen. The word ληξιαρχικός is [pg 039] defined by Harpocration as meaning “capable of managing the ancestral estate (τὰ πατρῷα οἰκονομεῖν).” The word λῆξις is used by Isaeus for the application, by others than direct descendants, to the Archon for the necessary powers to take their property.
It appears to have been at this period that the young man left the ranks of boyhood and dedicated himself to the responsibilities of his life.
The custom of tonsure.