Pater familias
One should understand the difference
between a Roman family (familia)
and a Roman clan (gens). A Roman
family consisted of living members,
headed by a paterfamilias, where a gens consisted of people sharing the
same family name; living or in history.
Patricians vs Plebs
Belonging to a certain gens was very important in Rome. It meant
belonging Patricians or Plebeians. It meant having one or more clan
members, who had held the office of consul or not. It meant having
influence and power or not.
Adoption
A clan name was handed over from father to son or even from father to
an adopted son. Adoption was very common in Rome. Not for poor orphans,
but for adult persons. Generally this was done to keep a clan alive or
to get a good successor:
Gaius Julius Ceasar
claimed to be a descendant from Iulus, son of Aeneas
and headed an very important and influential clan. In his last will he adopted his nephew Gaius Octavius.
The latter now
named himself Gaius Julius Ceasar (Octavianus). He propably never used
this cognomen. The "ianus" indicated his adoption and the clan he came
from. Since this was an insignificant clan, he didn.t like to be
reminded.
This adoption would
change the Roman world forever.
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus
There would be two Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus(es). The one having
adopted the other. The adopted one would take a third cognomen: Aemilianus because he was the grandson of
Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the one killed in the battle of Cannae.
Sell your own son into slavery
The head of a Roman family, the paterfamilias,
owned his children and
grandchildren (potestas). His sons could not perform any legal act
without his consent. Not even when they were adult and married, with
children of their own. He could sell a son into slavery.
He had power over life and death in his family. It was uncommon though,
that he would kill anyone without having held a family council first.
Murdering your father was a horrible crime (as was the penalty)
A parricide (murder of one's parent) was seen as an utmost
unthinkable crime. The punishment was harsh: The perpetrator was sewn
alive in a sack; together with a dog, a cock an ape and a viper. Then
the sack was thrown into the river. In the late republic this would
also be the punisment for the murder of one's mother.
Murdering your child was not a crime
See for example Livius (3.44)
Where Verginius killed his own daughter to prevent her from being raped by Appius Claudius, nobody even questioned him, but he was praised for protecting his daughter's chastity.
Property of your father
This potestas could end in one of two ways:
When the paterfamilias died
or when he emancipated one or more of his children. Emancipation made
them independent, but this also meant that if the father died without a
will, that stated otherwise, they would inherit nothing.
Since Roman males married usually not before the age of 25 and their
life expectance was 35 years not more than about 30% of the 25 year old
males would have a living father.
Girls went from hand to hand
A girl would marry into a family and then go from
her father's potestas
into the manus of her husband.
This meant she had no property an could perform no legal act. There was
a way though trough which she could keep her property. She had to pass
to her new husband by a so called usus, and stay from home every year
for at least three consecutive days. When not, she went into her husband's manus.
Pedagogus?
Children's education depended on how rich or poor the father was. The rich would buy one or more slaves to educate their children. Others would
send their children to a teacher, who educated more children in a kind of school. The slave who accompanied the child to and from the school and carried his books
was called a pedagogus. The children learned to read the old classics like the Ilias and Odyssee.
Obviously the proletarians would stay illiterate and the children would be educated by their fathers.
Reading was important then as it is today. Who wishes to improve his or hers reading capabilities should visit:
http://www.learning-disabilities-reading-tutor.com
