, the father is usually the “head” of the household, and the Romans emphasized this in their families, setting some standards by which we still live by today. “The familia was the basic unit of Roman society…the Roman household was an authoritarian institution governed by a male” (Osheim and Roberts 159). The oldest male in the family, usually the father, but sometimes the grandfather was known as the paterfamilias, which had supreme power within the household (Osheim and Roberts 160). The paterfamilias could do whatever he wanted with his wife, the children, his property, slaves, etc. He could sell his children to slavery, kill his wife or a child, and expose his young daughters (Osheim and Roberts 160). Contemporary society does not follow these rules and guidelines for the head of the household now, but the basic concept of the father being the head and in charge remains the same. It is hard to imagine what life was like back then in the early century’s B.C. Women were not legal, for they were considered a piece of property. They married in late teens, and served her husband for the rest of her life (Osheim and Roberts 160). Before Christianity was formed, women were not allowed to turn down a marriage, for their father would make them marry whomever they picked, men did not have to be faithful, and divorce was not an option (Osheim and Roberts 241). According to an article by Athenagoras titled “Sexuality and Family Life” (Perry 174), it is a good thing to stay a virgin until marriage. Saving yourself for one person is like saving yourself for God. “Because in the beginning God made one man and one woman—and dissolving the strictest union of flesh with flesh, formed for the intercourse of the race…” (Perry 175). Cheating on your spouse or partner is a sin and one will be punished at the end of his life. Even if an individual’s spouse dies, on...
