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.
No comments:
Post a Comment