FLavius Valerius Constantinus Posted January 14, 2006 Report Share Posted January 14, 2006 Thinking about Romulus and Remus, how were twins treated in Roman society specifically? Who was where in the inheritance? Who would be on the politician(for patricians) and who would be forced to join the army. Such many things I want to ask... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sextus Roscius Posted January 15, 2006 Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 I'm not sure, how ever twins would be even rarer than they are today, becuase twins are often a result of fertility drugs or other things of that type etc. However, I'm sure the Romans simply chose the one born first within the 1 minute or however long for politics and second one along for the military, however I wonder what they'd do with triplets... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantagathus Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 Don't forget Castor & Pollux! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Porcius Cato Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 Mark Golden's "Children and childhood in classical Athens" is a really comprehensive treatment of the subject, but he doesn't say anything about twins. My bet is that twins would be viewed as something marvelous if for no other reason than that a mother managed to deliver them safely at all. Infant mortality back then was very, very high. It was so common that many Romans didn't even bury their infants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sullafelix Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 here's a thought...what did they call twin girls to differentiate between them...I don't suppose we know but it just occurred..any ideas anyone? Maior and minor would seem to be out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus Pilus Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 here's a thought...what did they call twin girls to differentiate between them...I don't suppose we know but it just occurred..any ideas anyone? Maior and minor would seem to be out I don't believe there would be any difference between twins and other daughters. If born of the Claudian gens for example, they would both be named simply Claudia as any other daughters would be. Perhaps they might be designated with a Primia or Secundia praenomen, but I believe even siblings could be named major and minor and this wasn't reserved only to designate people of differing generations? Of course in the later imperial period, most bets were off and we see women with both the standard gens name from the paternal side and additional agnomen. It actually gets quite muddled especially within the imperial families. For example, Marcus Aurelius (born Marcus Annius Catilius Severus, and later Marcus Annius Verus and later still Marcus Aurelius Antoninus), had 6 daughters with Annia Galeria Faustina. Some proper full names are missing but we can assume that they were each the same (essentially beginning Annia Aurelia): Fadilla (seems to have been nicknamed for a maternal aunt or older ancestor) Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla (proper 'Annia' coupled with imperial Aurelia, maternal Galeria and nickname Lucilla -- Galeria was also paternal through adoption) Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina (see above, nicknamed also for maternal side which was also paternal through adoption... Faustina was the wife of Antoninus Pius) Domitia Faustina (Domitia was the paternal grandmother and Faustina the mother) Cornificia (named for a paternal aunt) Vibia Aurelia Sabina (Vibia Sabina was the wife of Hadrian so technically Marcus Aurelius' grandfather through adoption... Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius who adopted Marcus Aurelius in turn) Fun stuff... more imperial stemmatas for those so inclined Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castor Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 I heard from my Latin teacher that twins scared the crap out of the Romans because they didn't understand why two children came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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