- The Roman Family was the basis of Roman Society. The male Head of the Family or Paterfamilias ruled through Patria Potestas, the Power of the Father, which was part of Roman Law.
- The customs of Roman Society and their leisure pursuits are also listed in this article.
1. The Roman Family
- Paterfamilias:
- This was the Head of the Family, ‘Owner of the Family Estate’, and Enforcer of the Laws of Twelve Tables. Under Roman Law, he theoretically held the power of life and death over his family and extended family members, although this was rarely ever applied.
- Patria Potestas:
- The Child was the legal Property of the Father under Roman Law.
- Power to sell his children into slavery. But if the child was sold more than 3 times he was no longer subject to Patria Potestas (The Power of the Father).
- Mos Maiorum
- Meaning ‘Ancestral Tradition’.
- Roman Social Tradition was unwritten, but preserved instead through Social Custom. It was the Duty of every Paterfamilias to uphold Roman Social Customs.
- Social Censure by fellow Romans if the Paterfamilias did not conform, acted as a sufficient discipline.
- Roman Marriage or Conubium
- The Right of inter-marriage with a Roman Citizen.
- The children from this marriage received Roman Citizenship if the Father was a Roman Citizen.
- Adoption:
- The Paterfamilias held the Right in Roman Law to give his young male children to be Adopted.
- A price would be agreed and a sum of money exchanged between the Families.
- Commonly used to guarantee a male Heir for a powerful family – Julius Caesar adopted Augustus.
- A Plebeian adopted by a Patrician would become a Patrician.
- The adopted boy would take on the name of his adoptive father, but keep his own family Cognomen.
- Inheritance Law:
- ‘hereditas’ meant the transfer of Property from the deceased to the Heir or ‘heres’.
- An heir had to have been named in the Will, and had to have accepted to be the heir.
- The heir then inherited the Property and the Debts of the Deceased.
2. Roman Names
- Roman Citizenship
- Roman Citizenship required Roman Names and these were in use between c.700 BCE to c.300 CE.
- Roman Names consisted of a Praenomina, Nomen andCognomen,
- Gens
- Gens (Plural Gentes) meant a family, clan or tribe bearing the same name (Nomen) and descended from the same ancestor. Voting was done based on the tribe.
- Each Family was ruled by its own council of Elders, with its own rules, customs and religious practices.
3. Roman Women
- Roman Marriage
- Under Roman Law, Marriage had various legal forms which defined the status of the Wife and her Property.
- A legal contract was signed between the two families and confirmed whether the woman’s Property remained her own or was given to her husband.
- Roman Divorce
- During the Roman Empire, not only could a woman divorce her husband, but she could keep her Property and take back her Dowry.
- Roman Women's Clothing
- Roman Women did not wear the Roman Toga, but wore two types of Tunic instead, which were white with no stripes.