Home > Patriclan
 | | | |
Learn more about "Patriclan"
|
|
|
Patrilineality'''Patrilineality''' (a.k.a. ''agnatic kinship'') is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage; it generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well.
A '''patriline''' is a line of descent from a male ancestor to a Kinship|descendant (of either sex) in which the individuals in all intervening generations are male. In a patrilineal Kinship and descent|descent system (= ''agnatic descent''), an individual is considered to belong to the same descent group as his or her father. This is in contrast to the less common pattern of matrilineality|matrilineal descent.
The '''agnatic''' ancestry of an individual is that person's pure male ancestry.
An ''agnate'' is one's genetic relative exclusively through males: a kinsman with whom one has a common ancestor by descent in unbroken male line.
In cultural anthropology, a '''patrilineage''' (or '''patriclan''') is a consanguineal male and female kin group each of whom is related to the common ancestor through male forebears.
An agnate is a person, male or female, related by patrilineal descent, provided that the kinship is calculated patrilineally, i.e., only through male ancestors.Genetic genealogy
The fact that the Y chromosome (Y-DNA) is paternally inherited enables patrilines, and agnatic kinships, of men to be traced through genetic analysis.
Y-chromosomal Adam (Y-mrca) is the patrilineal human most recent common ancestor, from whom all Y-DNA in living men is descended. Y-chromosomal Adam probably lived between 60,000 and 90,000 years ago, judging from molecular clock and genetic marker studies.
Early medical theories
In ancient medicine there was a dispute between the one-seed theory, expounded by Aristotle, and the two-seed theory of Galen. By the one-seed theory, the germ of every embryo is contained entirely in the male seed, and the role of the mother is simply as an incubator and provider of food: on this view only a patrilineal relative is genetically related. By the two-seed theory, the embryo is not conceived unless the male and female seed meet: this implies a bilineal, or cognatic, theory of relationship. It may be significant that Galen lived at about the same time that Roman law changed from the agnate to the cognate system of relationships.
Common to both theories was the mistaken belief that the female emits seed only when she comes to orgasm. Given that assumption, the evidence for the one-seed theory is the fact that a woman can conceive without coming to orgasm (though this was still a matter of dispute in the ancient world and the Middle Ages[In some cultures a rapist could not be convicted if his victim had conceived, as this was taken as evidence that she had come to orgasm and therefore welcomed his attentions.]). The evidence for the two-seed theory is the fact that a person can look like his or her maternal relatives. These two facts could not be reconciled until the discovery of ovulation in the early 1800s, confirming the two-seed theory as biological fact and dissociating the production of female seed from the occurrence of the orgasm.
In early Greek and Roman history, a few philosophers claimed that although every child has one absolute mother, it did not follow that every child had one absolute father. They suggested that a child's genetic character could be influenced by the seed of two or more men if they had inseminated the same mother. This was considered a fringe theory even in its time, however, and was never widely accepted. Traces of such a theory appear to underline various myths of a hero (such as Heracles) with both a human and a divine father.
Roman law
In Roman law, ''agnati'' were persons related through males only, as opposed to ''cognati''.
Agnation was founded on the idea of the family held together by the patria potestas; ''cognatio'' involves simply the modern idea of kindred.
In Roman times, all citizens were divided by ''gens'' (clan) and ''familia'' (sept), determined on a purely patrilineal basis, in the same way as the modern inheritance of surnames. (The ''gens'' was the larger unit, and was divided into several ''familiae'': a person called "Gaius Iulius Caesar" belonged to the Julian ''gens'' and the Caesar family.)
In the early Republic, inheritance could only occur within the family, and was therefore purely agnatic. In Imperial times, this was changed by the Praetorian edict, giving paternal and maternal relatives equal rights.
In the Bible
The line of descent for monarchs and main personalities is almost exclusively through males. Tribal descent, such as whether one is a kohen or a Levite, is still inherited patrilineally in Judaism, as is communal identity as a Sephardi Jews|Sephardi or Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi Jew.[This has led to the idea of a single male ancestor of all males members of these groups. In the Bible this individual is identified as Aaron, brother of Moses, so the hypothetical figure is known as the Y-chromosomal Aaron.] This contrasts with the rule for inheritance of Jewish status in Orthodox Judaism, which is matrilineal. See Davidic line and Matrilineality#Judaism|Matrilineality in Judaism.[half-jewish.org/bible_ intermarriage.html][half-jewish.org/who_is_born_a_jew.html]
See also
- Matrilineality
- Hypodescent
- Hyperdescent
- Patrilineal descent of Elizabeth II - an example.
- Agnatic seniority
References
Category:Kinship and descent
Related Images
Sources: StartLearningNow, Wikipedia | Usage license: GNU FDL
 |
Welcome to Start Learning Now.
Explore to your heart's content, and we hope you enjoy reading the material we
have assembled for you here! |
 |
| | | | |
Related News
|
|
Further Resources
|
|
Related Resources
search
|
|
