[1] Term used in family law
Under Roman law of the Republican period, there was a difference between the matrona as the legal wife and the mater familias, the wife who was in the manus of her husband and thus belonged to his family (Gellius 18,6,8-9). This difference disappeared along with the marriage with manus ( Marriage), and since Augustus the terms matrona and mater familias are interchangeable in legal texts.
In social terms, the word matrona expresses th…