Familia: Group subject to paterfamilias
Paterfamilias: Senior male family member
Patria Potestas: Authority of paterfamilias over members
of familia
o Rights to all family property
o Power of life & death (cf. Brutus)
Ideal of filial pietas (Aeneas & Anchises)
Parricide as abhorrent crime
The Familial Ideal
o Single union (wife = univira)
o Descent of property/name to sons
... masking more diverse reality
o Serial monogamy, adultery & divorce
o Childlessness & adoption
o Widow(er)hood
o Unconventional families
o Same-sex relationships
Marriage
o No state or religious certification
o But w/ legal standing, obligations
Age: 12 (F); 14 (M; but most older)
Marriage in manum (w/ manus)
o Confarreatio: "spelt-sharing" ritual
o Coemptio: symbolic purchase
o Usus: = our 'common-law' marriage
Dowry
o Father pays husband (vs. bride-price)
o Must be returned on divorce
Ease of Divorce
Marriage links FiL (socer) & SiL (gener)
o Husbands > Sabine Women < Fathers
o Aeneas > Lavinia < Latinus
o Pompey > Julia < Julius Caesar
o (Younger Cato > Marcia < Hortensius)
Childbirth & Raising Children
High infant mortality rates
Birth Control
o Non-productive intercourse
o Coitus interruptus
o Drugs, douches etc. (how effective?)
o Abortion
o Infanticide (exposure)
Augustan Moral Legislation
o Privileges for having 3+ children
Philippe Ariès, Centuries of Childhood (1960): Is 'childhood' a universal concept?
Complex Families
o Slaves (e.g. wet-nurses, tutors)
o Adoption (orphans & non-orphans)
o Death, Divorce, Remarriage
Family Life
Family Rituals
o Consilium: family council
o Household worship (Lares & Penates)
o Annual festivals (e.g. Saturnalia)
o Life cycle commemorations