The ''tollere liberum'' (from ''tollere'', to raise; ''liberus'', child) was an

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

tradition in which a man picked up a newly born infant from the ground and lifted them in the air to display his acceptance of them as part of his household. It was commonly the father, or in some cases the chief of the house, who performed the task. In some variations of the tradition the man would carry them around a portion of earth (similar to the Greek '' amphidromia'').

History

By the 2nd century AD the practice was out of fashion and almost forgotten about, but a seemingly similar practice called ''suscipere liberum'' appears in legal documents. It was also sometimes simply called ''suscipio''.

Importance

The ''tollere liberum'' had no legal importance and did not imply that the father legally accepted paternity or confirmed legitimacy of the child. It was largely regarded as a symbolic gesture and its omission (if for example the father was not at home) did not affect the child's position in the family in any way. The legal initiation of a child into the ''familia'' occurred on the ''

dies lustricus In ancient Rome the ''dies lustricus'' ("day of Lustratio, lustration" or "purification day") was a traditional naming ceremony in which an infant was purified and given a ''praenomen'' (given name). This occurred on the eighth day for girls and t ...

'' when they were given their personal name. In the past it was thought by historians that the event did have a bearing and meant that the man acknowledged paternity of the baby, but this has been rejected in the 20th century. It was believed that if the father did not perform the act that it was an implication that the infant should be exposed.

Cultural depictions

In modern popular culture, scenes have been shown in which Roman dictator

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

picks up his son

Caesarion Ptolemy XV Caesar (; , ; 47 BC – late August 30 BC), nicknamed Caesarion (, , "Little Caesar"), was the last pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, reigning with his mother Cleopatra VII from 2 September 44 BC until her death by 10 or 12 ...

and shows him to onlookers. Examples are in the 1963 film ''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

'' in which it is anachronistically stated that it is law that a man declares paternity if he picks up a child from the ground; the 1999 miniseries ''

'' where Cleopatra VII places the child in front of him and demands that he accept the boy in front of the Roman imperial court; and the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

television series ''

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

'' where Caesar proudly displays the boy for his legionaries.

History

Importance

Cultural depictions

See also

References

Further reading