Marriage in ancient Rome is a very monogamous institution: a Roman citizen by law can only have one spouse at a time. The monogamous practice distinguishes the Greeks and Romans from other ancient civilizations, where elite men usually have many wives. Greco-Roman monogamy may emerge from the egalitarianism of the political systems of democratic and republican city states. This is one aspect of ancient Roman culture embraced by early Christianity, which in turn perpetuated it as an ideal in later Western culture.
Marriage has a mythical precedent, beginning with the abduction of Sabine Women, which may reflect the ancient habit of bridal abduction. Romulus and her male immigrant group were denied conzium, the legal right to mixed marriage, from Sabine. According to Livy, Romulus and his men abducted Sabine girls, but promised a respectable marriage, where they would enjoy the benefits of property, citizenship, and children. These three benefits seem to define the purpose of marriage in ancient Rome.
The word matrimonium, the root for the English word "marriage", defines the main function of the institution. Involving mater (mother), it carries the implications of the man who took the woman in marriage to have a child. This was an idea conventionally shared by the Romans for the purpose of marriage, which would produce legitimate children; citizens who produce new citizens.
Consortium is the word used to share properties, commonly used in technical terms for property held by heirs, but can also be used in the context of marriage. Such usage is generally seen in Christian writings. However, the distribution of water and fire (aquae et ignis communiciatio ) is symbolically more important. This refers to the distribution of natural resources. Worldly wealth is transferred automatically from wife to husband in ancient times, whereas a classic marriage keeps the wife's estate separate.
For the union of men and women to be lawful, there needs to be a legal and moral consent. Both sides must be willing and intent on marriage, and both require the approval of their father. If all other legal requirements are met, the marriage is done.
Video Marriage in ancient Rome
Roman wedding convention
Under early Roman law, the head of the family family had an absolute authority (patria potestas) over his children and, to a lesser extent, his wife. Therefore, the household is understood to be under manus (literally, "hand"). He has the right and obligation to find a good and useful partner for his children, and perhaps to organize the engagement of the child long before he grows up. To advance the interests of their biological families, the elite sons must follow their father to public life. and girls should marry a respectable family. If a princess can prove that the proposed husband has a bad character, he can legitimately refuse the match.
The legal age of consent for marriage is 12 for girls and 14 for boys. Most Roman women appear to have married in their teens to early twenties, but noble women marry younger than those from the lower classes, and an aristocratic girl is expected to become a virgin until his first marriage.
Roman custom idealizes the relationship of a married princess with her father in honor and obedience, even at the expense of her husband. "Respect" is not always absolute. After arranging her first two marriages, Cicero disagreed - rightly, apparently - her choice to marry Dolabella, but found herself unable to prevent her. A princess defends her own birthday name ( nomen ) for life; and although children usually take father names, some may take their mother's family name as part of their surname. In the early Empire, the legal status of girls differed little, if at all, from boys; can inherit part of the family's property if their father dies.
Marriage law
Ancient Roman law recognizes three types of marriage: confarreatio, denoted by sharing the spelled bread ( panis farreus ); coemptio , "by purchase"; and with bowel (cohabitation habit). Patricians are always married to confarreatio, while married people marry with coemptio or intestines : in the latter, a woman can avoid control the law of her husband by simply being absent from home with them for three consecutive nights, once a year. Among the early Republican elite families, marriage of the manus was the norm; the bride passes from her father's manus ("hands") to her husband's manus , remaining under one or another form of the potestas power).
Manus marriage is an institutional unequal relationship. In the time of Julius Caesar, it was largely abandoned for the sake of "free" marriage; when a wife moves into her husband's home, she remains under the legitimate authority of her father; but he does not live his daily life under his direct supervision. and her husband has no legal power over her. This is one of the factors in the independence enjoyed by Roman women, relative to many other ancient cultures and to the modern period: Free marriage usually involves two citizens of equal or nearly equal status, or citizens and persons holding Latin Rights. In the later Imperial period and with official permission, soldiers-citizens and non-citizens may marry. So the total is the separation of property law that rewards between spouses are recognized as conditional loans; if a spouse divorces or even lives apart, the giver can reclaim the prize.
After the fall of the Republic, the laws relating to marriage, parenthood, and adultery were part of Augustus's program to restore the mos maiorum (traditional social norm), while consolidating its power as a prince and Maps Marriage in ancient Rome
Wedding ceremony
The confarreatio wedding ceremony is a rare event, reserved for the highest echelon of the Roman elite. Flamen Dialis and Pontifex Maximus lead, with ten witnesses present, and the bride and bride divide the spelled cake (in Latin far or farreus panis ), then the name of the rite.
More upper-class marriages more typical in the classical period are less prestigious than confiaria, but can be equally luxurious. It will be carefully planned. Some dates are favorable for weddings but others are avoided as no luck. Traditionally, high caste brides should weave and sew their own wedding clothes; white wool dresses very similar to Vestal Virgin, and translucent translucent veils, symbolizing chastity and ritual purity. Sometimes brides exchange gifts before marriage.
The night before her wedding, the bride and groom gave her childhood costume and toys for her family, Lares, to signify she was coming soon. On her wedding day, she wore her wedding dress, and loosely tied it around her waist. He wore a bouquet of flowers or a flower crown, then covered his head with a yellow veil of fire. A boy lit a "Ceres torch" in the fire of his sacred house, and led the bridal procession to the house of a future husband; On the way, the bride gives her copper coins to Lares (Lares Compitalici) in her neighborhood, in recognition that she will soon be part of her community.
When the procession reaches the groom's house, water and other torches, burning in the household fire of the groom, is brought out to greet him, with the words aquae et ignis communicatio ("I give you water and fire"). The female bride's officer carried her across the threshold, where she greeted the groom; " yam tu Gaius, Gaia ego " ("where are you Gaius, I'm Gaia"), which he will answer " yam tu Gaia, Gayus ego ". The sacrifice of marriage is offered to Tellus; a pig is the most likely victim. Witnesses, oral consent of the bride, share water and fire and, perhaps, hold their right hand (dextrarum iunctio) testify that marriage has taken place. It was refined in the bedroom, supposedly in the dark. The day after the wedding, the husband will have a dinner party, and the bride gives offerings to Lares and other domestic deities in her new home.
Dowry
Dowry (Latin dos , rewards) are payments made by the wife's family to her husband, in nominal terms to cover their household expenses. It is more customary than mandatory. Ancient papyrus texts show that dowries usually include land and slaves but can also include jewelry, toiletries, mirrors, and clothing.
While marriage takes place, the dowry is the property of the husband but its use is limited; if the marriage ends due to a divorce, the marriage is returned to his wife or family. If the husband commits an offense causing the divorce, he loses the claim on any part of the dowry. If a wife is not guilty of the end of her marriage, the dowry is returned to her. If a wife or husband with children begins a divorce, their spouse can claim the dowry part on behalf of the children, to meet their needs and then inheritance.
A dowry of dos recepticia is one of the earlier treaties on his disposal and recovery. The dating profession is one given by the bride's father or paterfamilias ; it can be recovered by a donor or by a divorced woman. Dow marriage dos adventicia is more flexible; may be given by the wife, even though it comes from her father, and is used to pay off the debt incurred by the husband. If he is divorced, a wife can regain this dowry; if he dies, the husband keeps it.
Divorce
Legitimate divorce is relatively informal; the wife just takes back her dowry and leaves her husband's house. Roman men always hold the right to divorce their wives; a family fathers can order divorce from any partner under manus . According to historian Valerius Maximus, divorce took place in 604 BC or earlier, and the early Republican code of the Twelve Tables was reserved for it. Divorce is socially acceptable if done in social norms ( mos mororum ). In the days of Cicero and Julius Caesar, divorce was relatively common and "shameless", the subject of gossip and not social disgrace. Valerius said that Lucius Annius was not approved because he divorced his wife without consulting with his friends; that is, it takes action for its own benefit and without considering its impact on its social network ( amissia and clientela ). The 307 BC censorship thereby expels him from the Senate for moral depravity.
Elsewhere, however, it is claimed that the first divorce took place only in 230 BC, at the time Dionysius of Halicarnassus noted that "Spurius Carvilius, a different man, was the first to divorce his wife" on the basis of infertility. It is most likely this Spurius Carvilius Maximus Ruga who became a consul in 234 and 228 BC. The evidence is confusing. A man can also divorce his wife for adultery, get drunk, or make copies of household keys. Around the 2nd century, married women acquired the right to divorce their husbands.
Divorce by one of the parties decides a legitimate family alliance that has been established through marriage; and remarriage can create an entirely new economic or political set of alliances. Among the elite, husband and wife may marry again several times. Only one partner desires necessary for divorce, even if the divorce party is not informed. Couples who enter sane and healthy marriage, but are unable to judge (madness) incompetent and can not divorce their spouses; they may be divorced without their knowledge or legal notice. Divorce, like marriage, is considered a family affair. It is discussed and approved personally, in the informal family gatherings of the most affected parties; husband, wife, and senior members of both families. No public records were kept from the trial. Registration for divorce is not required until 449 CE.
Marry again
The frequency of remarriage among high elites. A quick marriage back is not unusual, and perhaps even ordinary, for the aristocratic Romans after the death of a spouse. Although no official waiting period is set for a widower, it is common for a woman to remain in mourning for ten months before getting married again. Duration allows pregnancy: if a woman becomes pregnant before the death of her husband, the ten-month period ensures that no questions about the father, which may affect the social status and heritage of the child, will be attached to birth. There is no law prohibiting pregnant women to marry, and there is a famous example: Augustus married Livia when she brought her ex-husband's son, and the College of Pontiffs decided that it was allowed as long as the boy's father was determined first. Livia's husband previously even attended the wedding.
Because elite marriages often occur for political or property reasons, a widow or widow with assets in these areas faces several barriers to remarriage. She is far more likely to be released legally than the first bride, and has a voice in her husband's choice. The marriage of Fulvia, who led troops during the last civil war of the Republic and who was the first Roman woman to have a face with coins, was seen to show her own political sympathy and ambition: she married first to popular champion Clodius Pulcher, who was killed on the street after a long feud with Cicero ; then to Scribonius Curio, a figure lacking in ideological cleverness who at the time of his death came to Julius Caesar; and finally to Mark Antony, the last opponent of the republican oligarchy and the first emperor of Rome in the future.
Most wives are encouraged to remarry after the death of a husband or divorce; and high mortality rates, low average life expectancy and high divorce rates mean frequent or multiple changes. Since children are expected to marry, each couple usually takes at least one child to a new marriage. Thus, marriage created a new fusion of families in ancient Roman society, where children were affected by stepparents and some instances in which stepmothers were younger than their stepchildren. Ancient physicians believe that a woman can become very ill if she loses sexual activity and that can even cause a woman to get a 'hysterical' uterine denial. '' There were even laws passed during the reign of Augustus which required widows and widowers to remarry to be fully inherited from those outside their immediate family.
Adultery
Adultery is a sexual offense committed by a man with a woman who is not his wife or a permitted couple such as a slut or slave. A married man commits adultery especially when his female partner is the wife of another person or an unmarried daughter. Punishment varies in different periods of Roman history and depends on circumstances.
Despite the prohibitions against adultery and harsh punishment mentioned during the Republic (509-27 BC), historical sources indicate that they are considered ancient victims, and should not be interpreted as an accurate representation of behavior. Adultery is usually considered a personal matter for families to deal with, not a serious criminal offense that requires court attention, although there are cases where adultery and sexual offenses by women have been brought to aediles for assessment. According to Cato (2nd century BCE), a husband has an ancient right to kill his wife if he catches her in an act of adultery. The existence of this "right" is questionable; if it exists, it is a matter of adat and not a statute of laws, and may apply only to them in the form of marriage of the manus , which has become increasingly scarce by the Late Republic (147-27 BC). ), when a married woman always remains part of her own family. No source records a justified murder of a woman for adultery either by father or husband during the Republic. However, adultery is reason enough for divorce, and if the wife is guilty, the wrong husband must keep part of his dowry, though no more than if he has refused to commit a serious mistake.
As part of Augustus's moral law in 18 BC, The Lex Iulia de adulteriis ("Julian's Law of Adultery") is directed to punish married women who are engaged in extramarital affairs. The execution of punishment is the responsibility of the paterfamilias , male head of household who has the legal and moral authority of the adulterous party. If a father finds out that his married daughter commits adultery in her own home or in her son-in-law's home, she has the right to kill the woman and her lover; if he only killed one of the adulterers, he could be accused of murder. While advertising the power of the father, the extremity of the sentence seems to have led to a wise application, since the cases in which this sentence is performed are rarely recorded - most notably, by Augustus himself against his own daughter.
An aggrieved husband is entitled to kill his wife's lover if he is a slave or an infamy, someone who, though perhaps technically free, is excluded from the normal legal protection afforded to Roman citizens. Among the infamyers are criminals, entertainers such as actors and dancers, prostitutes and pimps, and gladiators. He was not allowed to kill his wife, who was not under his legal authority. If she chooses to kill a lover, however, the husband is asked to divorce his wife in three days and to be officially accused of adultery. If a husband is aware of the affair and does nothing, he/she can be sued by pandering (lenocinium , from leno , "pimp").
If no death penalty is committed and the indictment for adultery is brought, both married women and their lover are subject to criminal penalties, usually including the seizure of half of the property of adultery, along with one-third of women's property and half. the dowry; any property brought by the wife to marriage or earned during marriage usually remains in possession after divorce. A woman convicted of adultery is forbidden to remarry.
Scholars often assume that Lex Iulia is meant to overcome a deadly adultery epidemic in the Final Republic. The androcentric perspective of the early 20th century states that Lex Iulia has become an "indispensable examination of the independence and carelessness of women." The gynocentric view of the late twentieth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century sees love as a way for smart and independent elite women to form emotionally meaningful relationships outside marriage that are set for political purposes. It is possible, however, that no such outbreaks of adultery exist; the law may have to be understood not as addressing the real problems that threaten society, but as one of the instruments of social control by Augustus who catapulted the state, and by extending himself, in the role of paterfamilias throughout Rome. An embarrassing or severe punishment for adultery is determined by law and explained by the poet, but it is absent in the works of Roman historians or Cicero letters: "The people who were the men of the Cicero and Tacitus courts did not burst into their wife's bedroom for violent revenge (even when licensing is granted by law). "However, Augustus himself often calls for his moral legal assistance in choosing to remove potential enemies and enemies from Rome, and the effect of the legislation appears to be primarily political.
Concubinage
Concubinage (concubine = concubina), is considered lighter than paelex) is an institution practiced in ancient Rome that allows men to enter certain illegal relationships without reaction, with except engagement with prostitutes. This de facto polygamy - because Roman citizens can not legally marry or live with concubines while also having legitimate wives - "tolerated to the extent that it does not threaten religious integrity and family law." Title concubines are not considered offensive (as may be presumed today) in ancient Rome, and often inscribed tombstones.
Emperor Augustus' Leges Juliae gives first legal recognition of concubinage, defines it as cohabitation without marital status. Concubinage came to determine many relationships and marriages that were deemed incompatible with Roman law, such as the desire of a senator to marry a free woman, or to cohabitate with a former prostitute. While a man can live in concubinage with the woman of his choice rather than marry him, he is obliged to give notice to the authorities. This type of cohabitation is slightly different from actual marriage, except that the heir of this union is not considered valid. Often this is the reason that high-ranking people will live with a woman in concubinage after the death of their first wife, so the claims of their children from this first marriage will not be challenged by the children of future union.
Concerning the difference between a concubine and a wife, jurist Julius Paul writes in the opinion that "a concubine is different from a wife only in the matter where he is held," which means that a concubine is not considered to be social equivalent to his patron, like his wife. While the official Roman law states that a man can not have a concubine at the same time he has a wife, there are various events that can be noted about this, including the famous cases of the emperors of Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, and Vespasian. Suetonius writes that Augustus "put Scribonia [his second wife] away because he was too complainant about the effect of his mistress". Often, in return for payment, the concubines would convey an appeal to their emperor.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments