ABSTRACT
The word 'family' or its equivalent has a certain flexibility in many languages. In Latin the term familia could mean the agnatic lineage, as in the juristic statement of the status of the woman:
for a woman is the beginning and end of her own family
mulier autem familiae suae et caput et finis est (Ulpian Dig. 50.16.195.4)
or it could mean the household, including - or even stressing - the slaves and freed slaves attached to it.1 Needless to say, everyday usage was less precise, but usually clear enough from the context. This study focuses on a particular relationship within the family: that between a mother and her children. Yet, to understand that, it is necessary to set it in the context of other family relationships.
