n A legally defined unit of
Roman society closest in meaning to and translated by English
clan, but not identical to it. The gens was a collection of families whose members were related by
birth,
marriage or
adoption. All the families were considered to have descended from a common clan ancestor although in cases where the time from the ancestor to the contemporary time was great the kinship was more remote than is meant by the English term "related." In such cases the legal definition still prevailed.