238 SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



excludes all descendants tlirougli liis daughters, grand- 

 daughters, and so on, is a patron>Tnic clan." ^ Thus the 

 clan is of two forms, the metronymic, in which descent 

 is traced through the mother line only, and the patro- 

 npnic, in which the descent is traced through the father 

 line only. 



In the literature of historic peoples there is evidence 

 which indicates that the clan was a very widespread in- 

 stitution in ancient times. The clan existed among the 

 Greeks. Homer tells us of the manner in which the 

 Greek warriors were separated by tribes and by clans.*^ 

 In the Old Testament of the Bible there are frequent pass- 

 ages revealing the existence of social organization on 

 kinship lines. The metronymic clan existed in Shechem, 

 for we read that Abimelech went unto ''his mother's 

 brethren" and because he was regarded as their brother 

 obtained favor with them.'^ When Abram went down 

 into Egypt he directed his wife Sarai, who was a beau- 

 tiful woman, to say that she was his sister in order 

 that the Egyptians in seeking to take her might not kill 

 her husband. Afterwards he explained that while she 

 was the daughter of his father, she was not the daughter 

 of his mother. In accordance with the metronymic sys- 

 tem of relationship he could marry her because only 

 relation in the mother line counted.^ The clan or gens 

 existed among the Romans in the early historical period ; 

 those related to each other through males were known 

 as agnati, those related to each other through females 



5 Giddings, Descriptive and Hisiorical f^ociology, p. 453. 



6 Homer, The Iliad, translated bj' Lang, Leaf and ]\Iyers, p. .'52; and Mor- 

 gan, L. H. — Ancient Society, p. 222. 



7 Judges, ch. ix, 1-3. 

 ^Genesis, cli. xii, 10-20; ch. xx. 



