THE WORLD OF FAMILY

Detail of a family outing (full sarcophagus relief)

Although legally she, like the rest of the family, deferred to the patria potestas of the paterfamilias, the world of the family and its locus in the domus was the domain of the materfamilias, who wielded her not inconsiderable authority over it through honor and long-standing custom. Marriage and motherhood remained the defining roles for Roman women; there was no Latin word for a respectable female who never married. Her first priority was her role as perpetuator of the family line and progenitor of legitimate citizens; as such she was required to keep her honor intact and to raise children who would bring glory to the family and the state. She brought with her to her husband's home a distaff and spindle and on her wedding night was given by her husband the gifts of fire and water, symbols of her domestic responsibilities, with the expectation that she as matrona would manage and increase his household with her labors. While upper-class women had slaves to help with the weaving, cooking, cleaning, and rearing of children, her lower class counterparts did the same tasks with little assistance. The poorest families suffered from scarcity which forced some to expose or sell their children into slavery; most slaves lived materially better lives than the very poor but they were denied the status and comfort of marriage and family life, as their partner and children were the property of their master. The citizen family was the foundation on which the state was built, where children first learned by training and example from a stern mater the core cultural values of pietas (dutifulness, reverence), obsequium (respect, submission), affectio (relationship, caring). The elite Roman familia was an all-embracing term, including as it did kin (from the nuclear family through the gens), household members (slaves, liberti), properties and goods, and unrelated resident dependents; deaths in childbirth and battle, divorces, remarriages, and adoptions created complex familial patterns. Given the legally dependent status of women on male kin or guardians, an upper-class household might contain an inordinate number of women in a wide variety of relationships: mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, niece, granddaughter, ward. For further information about this topic, see the Companion bibliography and Images of Family below.

IMAGES of FAMILY

Family Outing: relief on a sarcophagus of two families (father, mother, baby) driving wagons in the countryside; in the center two children play with a goose and a wheeled scooter. Details: left family, right family. Rome, Baths of Diocletian Museum.

Funerary Relief: a marble alcove contains the relief of a mother and daughter with a Greek inscription: "Mimia, too soon, farewell; Koartilla farewell." The mother wears native Mesopotamian costume; the daughter holds a wreath and wears fashionable Roman jewelry. Roman, from the Euphrates region of Syria, 70-100 CE. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts.

Sarcophagus lid: marble family relief of deceased husband reclining on a lectus holding a codex; his veiled wife sits at his head with her arm around him; a framed ancestor bust is in the center behind him; a child/slave with a board game/abacus is at his feet. Capitoline Museums, Rome (Palazzo Nuovo).

Infant nursing at his mother's breast while his father looks on; detail of the marble sarcophagus relief depicting the life cycle of M. Cornelius Statius. Roman, 2nd century CE. Paris, Louvre Museum.

Infant bathing: marble relief (? narrative of the childhood of Dionysos?) on a sarcophagus, showing women bathing a baby. Found in Nepi, Church of San Biagio, 2nd century CE from a Hellenistic original. Rome: Capitoline Museums (Palazzo Nuovo).

Julia , daughter of Augustus, with a laurel wreath above her head, flanked by her two sons Gaius and Lucius, on the reverse of a denarius of Augustus. Inscription refers to the moneyer: C[aius] MARIUS C[ai] F[ilius] TRO[mentana tribu]. Mint of Rome, 13 BCE 13 BCE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo.

Julia, daughter of Augustus, depicted as the goddess Diana, with a quiver on her shoulder and in her hair a diadem topped with a jewel. Reverse of a denarius of Augustus; inscription names the moneyer: C MARIUS TRO[mentina tribu]. Mint of Rome, 13 BCE. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.

Allia Potestas: eulogy on a terracotta plaque with inscribed text in hexameter. Found on Via Pinciana, 2nd century CE. Rome, Baths of Diocletian Museum.

Ara Pacis: marble relief of members of the imperial family from the southern side of the altar processing on the day of consecration of the altar (4 July 13 BCE). Although family members have been identified, many identifications are contested. Dedicated by the Senate on 30 January 9 BCE. Rome: Campus Martius.

Ara Pacis: Agrippa leading members of Augustus' family in procession. Another panel showing a male child seeking attention from an adult male on the left. Dedicated by the Senate on 30 January 9 BCE. Rome: Campus Martius.

Funeral Urn of the Decii: husband and wife in iunctio dextrarum with a male child between them holding a dove. The inscription below each figure reads: A[ULI] DECI SPINTHERIS, A[ULI] DECI FELICIONIS, DECIAE SPENDUSAE. 98-117 CE. Rome: Museo Massimo (from Via Ostiensia).

Matrona: this is a reconstruction of the clothing worn by a married woman. She wears a a turquoise tunic beneath a white stola that is bound with a cingulum tied in a nodus Herculaneus; she is cloaked by a teal palla with which she may cover her hair and even face. From an image supplied by Judith Sebesta of a student in a course (late 1990's).

Woman with son: statue of seated woman pointing to child wearing toga and bulla. Facial features and hairstyles indicate that the group represents Agrippina the Younger (detail) and her son Nero. Roman, 1st century CE. Rome, Capitoline Museums (Palazzo Nuovo).

Silver Distaff: Implement for holding wool or flax to spin into thread. Roman. From a tomb at Bursa, Asia Minor, early 1 century CE. London, British Museum.

Matrona: marble statue of a mother standing with her young daughter. 50-40 BCE. Rome: Museo Montemartini.

Orichalcum sestertius: Bust of Septimius Severus' mother, Julia Mamaea; inscription (partially worn): IVLIA MAMAEA AVGVSTA. Roman, 222-35 CE. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Bronze nummus: Bust of the Emperor Constantine I 's mother Helena; inscription: FL[avia] HELENA AVGVSTA. Cyzicus, 324/5 CE. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Baby's Bath: relief from a marble sarcophagus depicting the education of Dionysus: left detail. 2nd century CE after Greek Hellenistic original. Found at Nepi. Rome: Capitoline Museums (Palazzo Nuovo).

Seated Mother on a fragmentary relief nursing her infant before a temple; a male (her husband?) stands beside her and a veiled woman (priestess?) before her. Roman, imperial period. Rome, Vatican.

Agrippina the Elder: epitaph on a large marble block, probably from Augustus' mausoleum, where her son Caligula, when he became emperor in 37 CE, had her ashes delivered (from Pandateria where she was exiled and starved herself to death in 33 CE) . Inscription: OSSA/ AGRIPPINAE M[ARCI] AGRIPPAE/ DIVI AVG[usti] NEPTIS VXORIS/ GERMANICI CAESARIS/ MATRIS C[AI] CAESARIS AVG[USTI]/ GERMANICI PRINCIPIS (CIL 6.886). A cavity (not visible) on top once held the urn with her ashes. Rome: Museo Nuovo, Palazzo dei Conservatori.

Livilla as Ceres with her new-born twins. This cameo depicts the daughter of Antonia and Drusus (son of Livia), wife of Drusus the Younger (son of emperor Tiberius), commemorating the birth of their twin sons; she wears fillet and a wreath of grain, celebrating her fertility through attributes of the goddess Ceres; one of her infants holds a cornucopia. Roman, 19 CE. Berlin, Altes Museum.

All images are courtesy of the VRoma Project's Image Archive.