149 MARIANNA THOMA Chronique d’Égypte XCIII (2018), fasc. 185 – doi: 10.1484/J.CDE.5.116101 (1) In Oxford Classical Dictionary pietas is defined as ‘the typical Roman attitude of dutiful respect towards gods, parents and other kinsmen’. The emphasis is first on duty rather than affec- tion or compassion and secondly it is a virtue displayed primarily toward a higher power (gods, fatherland, parents). See also J.P. NÉRAUDAU, Être enfant à Rome, Paris 1984, p. 121. Cicero refers to pietas before higher authorities. See CIC. Inv. 2.65-66, Planc. 90. Valerius Maximus (5.4) includes in his collection of moral exempla a title De pietate erga parentes et fraters et patriam. In Latin literature the image of Virgil’s Aeneas carrying Anchises on his shoulder was considered as the representation of the virtue of pietas. See M.O. LEE, Fathers and sons in Virgil’s Aeneid: Tum genitor nutum, Albany 1979, pp. 17‒23. (2) Reverentia was the respect owned by children to their parents or by a freedman to his patron, while obsequium is defined as the respectful behavior of a freedman towards his patron; see A. BERGER, Encyclopedic dictionary of Roman law, Philadelphia 1953, pp. 605, 684. F. SCHULZ, Classical Roman law, Oxford 1951, p. 160, limits his comments on pietas to the three respects in which it bound children: they could not bring their parents into court without the praetor’s permis- sion, they could not bring infamous actions against them and they could not effect execution on the person of a parent. (3) Disrespect toward one’s parents and the refusal to provide them with food, clothing and practical care in their old age had negative effects on one’s social integrity and prestige. See S. HUEBNER, The family in Roman Egypt: A comparative approach to intergenerational solidarity and conflict, Cambridge 2013, p. 81. (4) For the coexistence of different legal and social traditions in Egypt during Roman times see H. MAEHLER, ‘Greek, Egyptian and Roman Law’, JJP 35 (2005), pp. 121‒140, U. YIFTACH- FIRANKO, ‘Law in Graeco-Roman Egypt: Hellenization, Fusion, Romanization’, in: R.S. BAGNALL (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology, Oxford 2009, pp. 541‒560, R.S. TAUBENSCHLAG, Obsequium et reverentia. Moral and legal obligations of children to care for their parents in Roman Egypt: The case of wills, letters and contracts In all ancient and modern societies children, as the primary source of old age support, are socially and morally expected to care for their elderly parents. Pietas was the quintessential Roman family value associated with the recipro- cal affection and obligations shared by all family members. ( 1 ) In Roman legal tradition, reverentia (respect) and obsequium ( 2 ) (obedience) were owed by children to both their parents, who in turn had the duty to look after their chil- dren’s interests. Moreover, in ancient world filial behavior was seen as evidence of a person’s moral worth and general trustworthiness. ( 3 ) In Egypt after the Roman conquest, there existed at least three strong legal and social traditions – Roman, Greek, Egyptian – often merging and often contradicting one another. ( 4 )