It's a Man's World- The Family Structure of Ancient Rome

Watch the video above to get a short preview into the family                                                       structure of Ancient Rome (only watch to 1 minute).

As you can see in this video, the family structure in Ancient Rome was very typical of a traditional family throughout most of history (think 1950’s almost). In general, it was a man’s world. The home in Ancient Rome was seen as very holy and important, especially the hierarchy of the family structure.

In every family, there were what the Romans called a paterfamilias (the father of the family). This was always the oldest living male in the family. They held the power over the entire family including the economic, social, political, and sometimes even religious aspects of the home and family. (PBS)

Overall, males were held highly in Ancient Rome. Regardless of age, they were more powerful than women. If a paterfamilias in the family dies, and the only other male successor is a young boy, he would then become the new paterfamilias. (Dixon)

For women, their life was not as powerful. They were in a “miserable condition of dependence” on the males of the family and could not do much about it (Cowell). The women were seen as the managers of the house (PBS). They were expected to act very proper, graceful, and modest in public to assure that they did not make their family look bad (PBS).

Sadly, the most notable thing that women were useful for to the Ancient Romans was to produce children (Nodman). Normally girls in non-elite or rich families would be married in their teens (Nodman). It was legal for as young as a seven year old girl to become engaged, but she was not able to get married until the age of 12 (Cowell). Women were not allowed to break the marriages, but men were allowed to (Cowell). Although legally mothers were not allowed to arrange the marriages, they often did (Dixon).

In relation, daughters in Ancient Rome were not looked upon very positively, especially when they were born. When a girl was born, this was usually a time of mourning for the family (similar to other cultures) (Cowell).  Roman society is also known for having a high infant morality rate. This is mainly because the medical help back then was not very sufficient and the overall low desire to have a girl (Todman). It is said that the mortality rate could have been as high as 20% (Todman).

When a baby was first born, the paterfamilias was the ultimate decider to whether or not his family would keep the baby. The midwife would help birth the baby and then lay them on the ground. The paterfamilias would then be the final judge of if they wanted to keep the baby or not. If he decided to not keep the child, the baby would be left on the ground and the family would leave. This left the baby to either die or be taken by strangers who sometimes turned into slaves. (PSB)

Romans “could never forget their need for manpower” (Cowell). When boys were born, unlike girls, it was a celebration and an honor. They were especially important to “make sure the family line would not die out” (PBS). Throughout their lives, they were educated and then when the boy was old enough, the paterfamilias would decide if the boy had the physical ability to enter into military training (Laurence). Also, when boys become teenagers, this was commonly when they would receive a new toga, which signified their entry into adulthood (Dixon).

Much of Roman daily life was dependent on slaves. Everyone in Rome could buy slaves (yes, even slaves could). Many slaves that were used by the Romans were from Italy. The labor that slaves did was not as intensive of what many people think of when they think of slave work. Each slave had his or her usual area of work (cooking, gardening, cleaning, maid work, etc.). Also, it was possible for slaves to get out of their servitude. (Cowell)

Roman philosopher, Cicero, said “there is nothing more holy, nothing more securely guarded by every religious instinct than each individual Roman’s home” (Cowell).

This gives us insight of how important the family and home was seen during this time. It was very important and held holy to the Greeks.

Works Cited

Cowell, F. R. Life in Ancient Rome. New York: First Perigee Printing.

Dixon, S. The Roman Family. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press.

Laurence, R. (2000). Metaphors, monuments and texts: The life course in Roman culture. World Archaeology, 31 (3), 442-455.

PBS. (2006).  The Roman Empire: Family life. Pbs.org. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://www.pbs.org.

Todmann, D. (2007). Childbirth in Acient Rome: From Traditional folklore to obstetrics. Australian and New Sealand Journal of Obstertrics and Gynacolgy, 47, 82-85.

Roman Family. 12 Feb. 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC0ifv4fIJs.