20. Ancient Roman Law Gave Fathers Extraordinary Powers Over Their Kids
The patriarchy today just isn’t what it used to be. Whatever complaints might be made about it today, it was nothing like the patriarchy back in the days of ancient Rome. There, the degree of authority that a Roman head of the household, or pater familias, exercised over the family would shock modern sensibilities.
At the lower end of the spectrum, Roman law and tradition granted the family patriarch the power to reject or approve the marriages of his sons and daughters. On the more extreme end, those laws and traditions granted patriarchs a literal power of life and death over their family. Indeed, in some instances, such as when it came to deformed babies, Roman law mandated that the patriarch kill infants with obvious deformities.