Talk:Father

Here we see a decree say that Augustus was not only the "Paternal, Savior (soter) of the whole race of men" but the "father of his own country".

"Thus the decree from Halicarnassus, which probably dates from the later years of Augustus in the first century B.C. and may be the copy of a general decree of the province of Asia, proclaims: “Whereas the eternal and immortal nature of the

Universe, in its grace to men, has added a thing of the greatest good to the exceeding benefits already given, having brought to us Caesar Augustus, who in the happy life of our time is father of his own country, dea Roma, Zeus the Paternal, Savior (soter) of the whole race of men, and whose providence has not only fulfilled but even exceeded the prayers of all-for there is peace on land and sea; the cities flourish in obedience to law and in concord (homonoia) and prosperity; and there is a culmination and abundance of all good, of bright hopes for the future and joy in the present, with men filled to overflowing with (delight in) games and offerings and sacrifices and hymns…” (E. Barker, ed., From Alexander to Constantine: Passages and Documents Illustrating the History of Social and Political Ideas 336 B.C-A.D. 337, [1956] 1959, 213. "

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Classical Usage of Pater

"Pater basically denotes a “father” in classical Greek and is used of: (1) Literal father (Homer, Odyssey, 1, 94). (2) The patriarch of the family (Josephus Antiquities 14, 255)."

"The word is used in the plural of forefathers and ancestors generally (Homer Iliad 6, 209). In a figurative sense the word is used as a title of honor for, or a respectful means of addressing, a venerable old man (Homer, Iliad, 24, 362), and also to indicate spiritual or intellectual fatherhood. Thus a philosopher may be called the “father” of his followers (Epictetus, Dissertationes, 3, 22, 81 f.), and in the mystery religions the one who conducts the ceremony of initiation can be described as “father” of the newly initiated (Apuleius, Metamorphoses, 11, 25, 7)."

"In ordinary Greek use pater means first the father of a family and occasionally the grandfather, who is usually pappos (Josephus Antiquities 7, 180) can be called pater (Philo Som. I, 166), also the great-grandfather (Hb. 7:10). This use is possible because pater even in the singular can reach further back and be used for “forefather, progenitor.”

page 99 "As a metaphor pater is used of the king and of God. . The use of the name father for God in the religions of the ancient orient and classical Greece and Rome is always based upon mythical ideas of an original act of begetting and the natural, physical descent of all men from God. Thus, the god El of Ugarit is called “father of mankind”, the Babylonian moon-god Sin is “father and begetter of gods and men”, and in Greece Zeus (from Homer onwards) is called “father of men and gods”. "

https://www.wenstrom.org/downloads/written/exposition/1tim/1tim_1_1-2.pdf

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The word pater is not a simple signifler; especially, again, because it is so central to Roman culture

Fortunati ambo! si quid mea carmina possunt, nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo, dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.

imperiumque pater Romanus habebit. As Conington and Nettleship point out, it is difficult to decide here between Augustus, Jupiter, and the generic ‘Roman father’ of patria potestas. All three are plausible in the context.21 But the broad Derridan notion of the father is also implicated in this, because of the second important aspect of fatherhood, its authority. Power is always with the father, and in particular the speech of the father, the words of the Lord—fatum, what the father says. The words of the father, moreover, bring order and peace through this authority; meaning is settled, disputes are resolved, the forces of disorder and anarchy are kept in check. Paternity, as the author of a recent critique of this ‘paternal romance’ puts it, is ‘configured and projected in Western texts as an origin of culture and world-order, and as a guarantor of cultural law and justice.’ Davis (1993) 3.

http://digitalvirgil.co.uk/pvs/1996/part4.pdf

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If the father had been the severe and repressive figure in Roman culture that Veyne suggests, it would have been odd that emperors were so concerned to represent themselves as pater in contrast to dominus.

"In earlier times, a Roman father had the right to disinherit his children and even kill them. Later he lost both these rights." Hegel's Philosophy of Right Third Part: Ethical Life. C. The Education of Children and the Dissolution of the Family, S.180