ore remote brothers on their
mother's side. The gens has a common female ancestor, from whom the
female successors descend in generations. The husbands of these women
are not of the consanguine group, the gens, of their wives; they are of
the gens of their sisters. Conversely, the children of these men belong
to the family group of their, the children's mother, descent being in
the female line. The mother is the head of the family; and thus arises
the "mother-right," which for a long time constitutes the basis of the
family and of inheritance. In keeping therewith--so long as descent was
recognized in the female line--woman had a seat and voice in the
councils of the gens; they voted in the election of the sachems and of
the military chiefs, and deposed them.

About the Lycians, who abided by the mother-right, Herodotus says;
"Their customs are partly Cretan, partly Carian. They have, however, a
custom that distinguishes them from all other nations in the world. Ask
a Lycian who he is, and he answers by giving you his own name, the name
of his mother, and so on in the female line. Aye, if a free-born woman
marries a slave, her children are citizens, but if a free man marries a
stranger, or takes a concubine, even if he be the highest person in the
State, his children forfeit all citizen rights."

In those days, "matrimonium" and not "patrimonium," "mater familias"
and not "pater familias" were the terms used; and the native land is
called the "dear motherland." As with the previous family-forms, so did
the gens rest upon the community of property, and had a communistic
system of household. The woman is the real guide and leader of this
family community; hence she enjoys a high degree of respect, in the
house as well as in the affairs of the family community concerning the
tribe. She is judge and adjuster of disputes, and frequently performs
the ceremonies of religion as priestess. The frequent appearance of
Queens and Princesses in antiquity, their controlling influence, even
there where their sons reigned, for instance, in the history of old
Egypt, are results of the mother-right. Mythology, at that epoch,
assumes predominantly female characters: Astarte, Ceres, Demeter,
Latona, Isis, Frigga, Freia, Gerdha, etc. Woman is considered
inviolable; matricide is the blackest of all crimes: it summons all men
to retribution. The blood-feud is the common concern of all the men of
the tribe; each is obliged to avenge the wrong