Pater familias

Common card · No. 231661

The pater familias, also written as paterfamilias (pl.: patres familias), was the head of a Roman family. The pater familias was the oldest living male in a household, and could legally exercise autocratic authority over his extended family. The term is Latin for "father of the family" or "owner of the family estate". The form is archaic in Latin, preserving the old genitive ending in -ās (see Latin declension), whereas in classical Latin the normal first declension genitive singular ending was -ae. The pater familias always had to be a Roman citizen. Roman law and tradition (mos majorum) established the power of the pater familias within the community of his own extended familia. In Roman family law, the term patria potestās ('power of a father') refers to this concept. He held legal privilege over the property of the familia, and varying levels of authority over his dependents: these included his wife and children, certain other relatives through blood or adoption, clients, freedmen and...

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