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History Essay: The Roman Familia

Essay Instructions:

Questions for essay #1: select one of the following questions for a 600-800 word, double-spaced essay.
[The writer can choose one topic which you like for me.]
[I am sorry that I didn't find the PDF of the reading book. If you can't also find books, you could use examples from Google which also acceptable.]
1. Although we get the English word "family" from the Latin word "familia," the Roman familia was in many ways different from modern concepts of the family. How so? How was the Roman family structured? What sorts of roles did the various members of the family have? What are some of the familial ideals that Roman sources perpetuate? What does our evidence tell us about the realities of life in Roman families?
Cite specific examples from our reading in your discussion. (You will want to focus your review on the relevant "Shelton, J. As the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History. 2nd ed. Oxford, 1998" sections for this topic.)

2. Discuss the ways in which religion was an integral part of the civic life at Rome. Was religious authority highly centralized or spread around? What sorts of divinities were there and how were they worshipped and celebrated? In what ways were Romans open to religious change? In what ways did they seem to resist religious change?

Cite specific examples from our reading in your discussion. (Both "Shelton, J. As the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History. 2nd ed. Oxford, 1998." and "Boatwright, Gargola, and Talbert. A Brief History of the Romans. Oxford, 2006" are highly useful for this topic.)

Hints for preparing a successful essay:
Use evidence from our readings but be sensitive to the different natures of our sources. ARD has excerpts from literary works, personal letters, tomb inscriptions, etc. All of these sources have interesting things to say about the family and religion, but be careful to analyze each piece of evidence on its own terms.
Devote the bulk of your essay to interpretation and analysis. Use specific examples from our reading to build your case, but don't spend an excessive amount of time summarizing them.
Although you don't necessarily need to have a formal thesis sentence, give the reader an idea of where your argument is going in the introduction. Also, cut to the chase–avoid overly wordy and elaborate introductions that contain irrelevant information.

Essay Sample Content Preview:

The Roman Familia
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The Roman Familia
For decades now, the Roman family, familia, has been the center of interest among theologians, historians, psychologists, and other scholars due to its controversial customs. The researchers have carried out many studies on the issue to understand Roman's ancient culture. This has generated a debate on whether their beliefs and practices uphold the standards of humanity. Research on the issue and an in-depth analysis of their practices show that they differ largely. While the contemporary world treats both men and women equally, men were highly regarded in the Roman familia.
The current constitutional provisions, including human rights laws, champion equality for everyone irrespective of their gender. Anti-discrimination laws prohibit any form of discrimination. It also allows women to own properties and make their own decisions. This is contrary to Roman familia customs, where the head of the family had absolute power over other family members (Shelton, 1998; Saller, 1984). Women were despised. They were subjected to forced marriages, unlike the modern world, where it is voluntary. They did not enjoy freedom as men do.
Besides, the Roman familia had a distinct structure to the current family. The familia was composed of the paterfamilias, materfamilias, children, and slaves. Curchin (2000) notes that paterfamilias was the family father. He was the oldest living male in a given family. He played different roles, including performing religious rights on behalf of his family. Also, the paterfamilias looked after the family property and businesses (Saller, 1984; Curchin, 2000). The father had control over his sons until his death. His role was to ensure that his sons conform to the societal customs practices from childhood to adulthood and even after marriage. However, this role ends when the son has been sold three times.
Additionally, the familia customs gives the father a right to decide on the children that should be retained in the family. He had the right to life and death (Shelton, 1998). Their laws also allowed the paterfamilias to kill their children born with deformities.
Materfamilias, the subsequent position after paterfamilias in the Roman familia, was occupied by paterfamilias' wife. She is the mother of the family. The wife, often referred to as the matrona, played significant roles in the family. Her primary role was to bear and raise children (Shelton, 1998). She also performed house du...
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