Domus Liiuae: family, gender and identity in the Imperial gens

Abstract

The Roman family was, as is widely recognized, an institution regulated in the communitas according to moral and political tradition, rather than based on blood ties. Woman (as mater, matron, mater, uxor, filia, auia) is brought into question in the process of construction of this family identity with which her own name becomes closely intertwined. At the birth of Julio‐Claudia gens, Livia and Augustus lay the foundations, within the limits of mores and seeking the affirmation and continuity of their lineage, that allowed the transfer of the center of the empire’s political power from the forum into the domus. The interest of this paper lies, therefore, on the examination of this identity which is, at the same time, social, public, domestic and imperial.