The Roman Family
-- by * Livia Servilius

It may be that a general understanding of the traditional Roman familia can give us a better grasp of the Roman woman's everyday reality. This will be a general overview only. More specific discussions of specific themes will follow in other essays.
The familia consisted of the conjugal pair, domus, holdings of land and properties, children, married sons and the son's children, daughters-in-law, slaves and clients. It was not so much a family, as we today think of the concept of family, but more of a household. It was not so much a group of relatives, but a gathered assemblage of that which belonged to the ascendant male. This ownership included persons and property alike. This familia was a total patriarchal organism.

>From Rome's beginning, all legal rights and power belonged to the man. Historian Will Durant comments it was, "as if the family had been organized as a unit of an army, always at war."*

In the early Republic the law recognized only a man's rights. He had total control over the family: patria potestas ...


Over his children he had the power of life and death: ius vitae necisque

He could, at any time, for what ever reason he wished, sell his child into slavery

A daughter remained under the control of her father unless he consented to be being married cum manu where she is literally given over to the hand (power) of her husband and his familia.

He held absolute power over the slaves of the household, and all female relatives under his guardianship.

He held all rights over his wife as well. He could punish, banish, denounce, divorce, and execute her if he so chose.

Everything--people and property, rights and power, were mancipia, held in his hand. It was only upon his death that his offspring became independent sui iuris. He did have the power to emancipate son or slave at will.
We are told by historians and the contemporary writers of those times, that the most extreme of a paterfamilias rights were seldom employed, and others seldom misused. Custom, law and tradition as well as public opinion kept moral check on his uses and misuses of such power.

It is interesting to note that the Roman male held these controls over the family until his death. Neither insanity nor his own choice could nullify it.

As the early Republic sought to strengthen itself from within to insure its continued growth, these strong family units became its foundation. The tight unit became the basis for Roman government, moral code and stoicism.

A woman in this arena, at this early stage of the Republic, had no rights of her own. Due to what the jurist Gaius (150-180 AD) refers to as propter animi levitatem, literally "on account of the lightness of mind", the law required that all women, young and old, be under the care of a "guardian". In Gaius day the practice was in form only. By Constantine's reign (306-377 AD) it had disappeared altogether.

The Roman woman did, however, have considerably more freedoms than her Greek counterpart. Unlike her Greek sisters, she was not required to take her meals away from the men. Neither was she required to remain at home in seclusion if the man was away.

Women of Rome could not claim dower rights in her husband's estate, nor could she appear as a witness in court. She could not hold office, vote or serve as judge or advocate.

Although during the days of the Republic she could inherit no more than 1000,000 sesterces, she was not restricted from owning property and wealth. When husbands, looking to escape taxes, bankruptcy and lawsuits transferred property to the wife's name, her social worth and financial wealth increased.

Roman women, though not entitled to rights under the law, were not without power. The legendary Messalina, Livia, Octavia, Antonia, Agrippina, and countless others are proof that position, wealth and power need not be gained legislatively.

"Since the greater urgency of the male supplies woman with charms more potent than any law, her status in Rome must not be judged from her legal disabilities."*

By Julius Caesar's time, wives had won many freedoms and led much less restricted lives. many elite class women grew powerful due to their riches, and became increasingly influential through marriage, adulterous liasons and intrigues.

Terentia, for example, the wife of crisis-plagued Cicero, busliy increased her personal fortunes as her husband struggled mightly persuing the Cataline conspiracy in the Forum.

The famous beauty Clodia, whom Cicero referred to as'Juno of the beautiful eyes', was a well recognized phenomena in her day. Always surrounded by admirers, the queen of high society gave lavish parties by the Tiber. Her parties were peopled with the wheelers and dealers of Rome's voracious political crowd.

The Roman women were priestesses in the state religion, and at home mea domina, honored madam. Most women did little or no physical labor in the home, other than weaving, which was considered an acceptable expression of the ideal virtue in a woman. She did oversee the home and the slaves activities. Many also oversaw the education of their children. Quintilian remarks in his writings of cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, as having contributed to the remarkable eloquence of her famous sons.

We can conclude that the lower classes of women in Rome's society, freedwomen, slaves and the poor of the Head Count poor, led much different lives than those of the upper middle and elite classes. Much less is known about these women. We do know that they ran shops, were nurses, laborers, domestics weavers, and skilled craftsmen. Many women led lives as prostitutes, actually having a state sanctioned guild of their own.

Generally speaking, we can know that though the law granted them little by way of written rights, the Roman woman, the materfamilia, was loved by her spouse and offspring. We can say that, overall, the family unit was strong, and did, in fact, become Rome's first abiding strength.







Caesar and Christ (1944) Will Durant (Simon and Schuster) *quotes are from this volume
Greece and Rome: Builders of Our World (National Geographic Society)

The Romans: Their Life and Customs (1994) E.Guhl and W. Koner

I, Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome (1996) Diana E. E. Kleiner and Susan Matheson, Editors