caa a22 4500 388041730 CHVBK 20180307125024.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199811 xx s 000 0 eng 10.2307/300809 doi S0075435800044154 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.2307/300809 Arjava Antti University of Helsinki Paternal Power in Late Antiquity [Elektronische Daten] [Antti Arjava] One of the most peculiar features of Roman law was the father's dominant position. In theory, he exercised an almost absolute authority, patria potestas, over his descendants until his own death. The uniqueness of their family system did not escape the Romans themselves. In his mid-second-century legal textbook Gaius explained: Item in potestate nostra sunt liberi nostri quos iustis nuptiis procreavimus. Quod ius proprium civium Romanorum est; fere enim nulli alii sunt homines, qui talem in filios suos habent potestatem, qualem nos habemus. Idque divus Hadrianus edicto, quod proposuit de his, qui sibi liberisque suis ab eo civitatem Romanam petebant, significavit. Nec me praeterit Galatarum gentem credere in potestate parentum liberos esse. (Inst. 1.55) Again, we have in our power our children, the offspring of a Roman law marriage. This right is one which only Roman citizens have; there are virtually no other peoples who have such power over their sons as we have over ours. This was made known by the emperor Hadrian in an edict which he issued concerning those who applied to him for Roman citizenship for themselves and their children. I have not forgotten that the Galatians believe that children are in the power of their parents. (Translated by W. M. Gordon and O. F. Robinson, The Institutes of Gaius (1988)) This account immediately raises at least one fundamental question: If patria potestas was a distinctive feature of Roman society, how did the other peoples of the Empire react to it after the universal grant of the Roman citizenship in A.D. 212? Copyright ©Antti Arjava 1998. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Journal of Roman Studies Cambridge University Press 88(1998-11), 147-165 0075-4358 88<147 1998 88 JRS https://doi.org/10.2307/300809 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.2307/300809 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Arjava Antti University of Helsinki NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Roman Studies Cambridge University Press 88(1998-11), 147-165 0075-4358 88<147 1998 88 JRS CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge