Paterfamilias

In the everyday Roman household, the pater familias or paterfamilias (plural patres familias), was the head of a Roman family. The paterfamilias was the oldest living male in a family group and he held an almost absolute authority over the lives, property, and religious duties of the family.

Because of the natural course of things he would become dependent upon his family just as they had been dependent upon him in their own beginning. He could rule the family with absolute brutality and self service or through love and personal sacrifice. Nature it self was the first dictator and it is often as harsh a task master as anything man can imagine.

The Materfamilias was usually younger than her Husband and held a subordinate position because of the natural dependence upon the powers of the man often called upon in nature because of the needs and demands of survival. In Roman law any woman who produced at least three children enjoyed a legal independence as her own duties to maintain the household were considered substantial.

Marriage in ancient Rome which included conubium was strictly a monogamous institution. Eventually a Roman citizen by law could have only one spouse at a time.

Their mutual inter dependence and the unforgiveness of nature would govern the Great Domestic Relationships over a period of time for the whoe family to see, observe, and learn from.

In examination of these various types of authority within the family we can see the rational of all units of societies, communities, and nations. These precepts spanned across centuries and covered all facets of Roman life - from the household to public politics to the battlefield.

Paterfamilias

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