Roman Family By Eva Cantarella Analysis

In the Roman family, the paterfamilias had the absolute power over his children; consequently, this power had outstanding effects not only on the children’s lives but also on the pater’s life. Eva Cantarella argues that the hierarchical structure of the Roman family was characterized by the fear and the obedience on the children and authoritative behavior from the part of the pater (Cantarella, 284). She supports her argument with the use of research and surveys that omitted the demographic and literary evidence in their theory of the Roman family structure. In addition, she focuses on the lack of economic freedom and private lives of the sons to prove that the Roman family was not based on mutual love and respect of the two parties. The author based all her arguments on the father and sons relationship, which makes sense. However, sometimes she mentions daughters without going further in her explanations: “An enforceable order given to the reluctant spouse, …show more content…
In fact, the author has contemporary values, which differ from the Roman’s values. It seems that the author has some difficulties in accepting that for the Romans the power of the pater was reasonable and accepted among the people. The author clearly understands that the relationship of the paterfamilias and his sons shaped and influenced the whole society. Yet, she is against this because throughout the text she depicts how the power of the paterfamilias is bad toward the sons. This is the case, if we analyse this power with the contemporary values, but if the author was writing this article during the Republic and the Empire she would clearly have a different perspective about the pater’s power. In addition, if she would have made some research on Ancient Greece, she would be less shocked about the acceptance of the pater’s power, since the Greeks in some ways accorded the same power to