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Exemplar for internal assessment resource Latin for Achievement Standard 91510 resource 3.5B
Exemplar for Internal Assessment Resource
Latin Level 3
Resource title: You Can See That...
This exemplar supports assessment against:
Achievement Standard 91510
This achievement standard involves analysing the influence of
Latin text(s) on subsequent culture(s).
Expected responses
The moderators have developed expected student responses from a wide variety of sources
Date version published by
Ministry of Education
© Crown 2011
December 2012
To support internal assessment from 2013
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Latin for Achievement Standard 91510 resource 3.5B
Grade Boundary: Low Excellence
1.
To achieve at Excellence the student is required to analyse Latin written texts
thoroughly, using linguistic and cultural knowledge to identify and fully expand on
particular points (in this case, marriage customs) and how they link from the past to
subsequent cultures. Latin references/quotations are unambiguous and an English
explanation of them is given.
The student has fully expanded on (1) the clothing worn by a Roman bride at a formal
wedding ceremony by analysing and quoting in Latin with an English explanation from
texts by Paulus and Catullus.
A link has been made with what might be worn by a modern New Zealand bride (2).
Aspects of the formal Roman wedding ceremony are fully expanded on and supported
by quotations in Latin with an English explanation and are linked to a modern New
Zealand wedding ceremony.
An example of cultural knowledge is shown in (4).
This is a Low Excellence because other points made e.g. (3) the requirements of the
ius conubii have not been linked to modern customs or requirements.
To reach a more secure Excellence the student would need to expand fully on more
points, linking them to modern practices and analyse more Latin text e.g. in connection
with parents arranging marriages or the choice of day
© Crown 2011
Student 1: Low Excellence
THAT WHICH IS
NEEDED, LASTS
Modern weddings
perpetuate a legacy from
Ancient Rome
With an increasing number of people
choosing to live together rather than go
through a formal wedding, some people
might be thinking ‘how things have
changed!’ However taking a long view
back to the days of ancient Rome, the
change is not so great. In Roman law
marriage was strictly monogamous, and (3)
the only requirements for a legal marriage
were covered by the term ius conubii (you
had to be a Roman citizen, not be closely
related, be of the same social class, and be
at least 14 years old if male and 12 if
female to have a recognised marriage).
Beyond these requirements, for a marriage
to exist of course, the consent and marital
affection consensus and adfectio maritalis
of the couple were needed. Once a couple
had lived together for a year, they were
regarded as married, and this form of
marriage was known as usus, or ‘marriage
in practice’. This form of marriage became
general throughout the Roman empire and
divorce afterwards was easy to obtain.
There is an essential difference in the rights
of the woman involved, however, for in
ancient Rome, there was no national law
entitling each spouse to 50% of their
possessions, should divorce occur after a
marriage had lasted two years, as the
Matrimonial Property Act does in NZ.
In contrast a formal Roman wedding
confarreatio, after which divorce was
difficult to obtain, was preferred by Roman
patrician families, and modern marriage
customs retain many aspects of that type
of ancient Roman wedding day.
For a modern couple intending to marry
importance is placed on choosing a suitable
date. Factors that affect this could be
avoiding inconvenient days when their
guests might be away on holiday or have
work or social obligations, finding a venue
that will be available and affordable, and
avoiding sacred, sad or unlucky days which
their religious or other beliefs preclude.
The NZ Marriage Act (1955) states that for
Marriages before the Registrar ‘After
compliance with the provisions of this Act
any marriage may be solemnised at the
office of and before the Registrar and in
the presence of 2 or more witnesses on
any day (not being a Sunday, Good Friday,
Anzac Day, or Christmas Day). The date and
time chosen for Marriages before a
Marriage Celebrant seem to be reliant only
on the Celebrant’s agreement. Modern
weddings used to have to be held at a
venue ‘with open doors’ and ‘at any time
between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.’ but these
requirements were deleted in the 1990s.
The modern wedding venue has to be the
one stated on the application for a
wedding license, which may be applied for
up to three months before a wedding.
Before this time, the couple might have
announced their engagement with a notice
in a local newspaper or at a family
gathering, although some do not go
through the formality of an engagement.
This could be so in ancient Rome as well,
but families of high social standing, who
were highly concerned about which family
they would allow theirs to be linked to,
could betroth their children, sometimes
when they were as young as 7 years old or
so. This would involve the fathers of the
betrothed making a reciprocal promise of
marriage sponsio on their behalf at a
ceremony followed by a celebratory feast.
The ancient Romans would have been
careful to choose a suitable date in order
to have a ‘merry day’ hilaris dies, as
Catullus wrote. The month of February was
out, being the month when ceremonies
were held in honour of the dead, May was
regarded as unlucky, (4) but June, being
the month of Juno, goddess of women, was
a lucky month for weddings. ‘June brides’
are common in the northern hemisphere
nowadays, although this is predominantly
because June is a summer month there, as
it was in Rome.
(1) Many aspects of the dress of a modern
formal bride have links with the dress of an
ancient Roman formal bride. The dress
itself was white, a custom still usually
observed nowadays, even if this is not the
bride’s first relationship. Brides from both
cultures would have flowers in their hair
and these were probably handpicked by
the bride and worn under a veil corollam
nova nupta de floribus verbenis herbisque
a se lectis sub amiculo ferebat ‘The bride
wore beneath her cloak a wreath of
flowers and sweet-smelling foliage that she
had picked herself’ Paul. Fest. 56. The
ancient veil was orange or yellowish-red
and head to toe in length, while the
modern one would be white, and probably
shoulder length. The ancient bridal shoes
would have been yellow, not generally a
colour worn by modern brides.
Catullus wrote his poem 61 probably as a
gift to mark the marriage of a friend
Manlius Torquatus to his bride Junia, and
this poem gives us an account of several
Roman marriage customs. Catullus,
speaking as if he were a pronuba, matron
of honour, encouraged the god of
marriage, Hymen, to be present at the
wedding, and pictured him dressing as the
bride would do:
cinge tempora floribus
suave olentis amaraci,
flammeum cape laetus, huc
huc veni, niveo gerens
luteum pede soccum;
‘Encircle your temples with the flowers of
the sweetly smelling marjoram, put on
your wedding veil and happily come here,
here, wearing yellow shoe on your snowwhite foot.’
The ancient Romans wished a wedding to
be blessed by the presence of Juno,
goddess of women and Hymen, god of
marriage. Ovid wrote about an unwanted
marriage of Tereus and Procne (non
pronuba Iuno, non Hymenaeus adest, ‘Juno
is not there to assist, nor is Hymenaeus’
Met. vi 428) which had no blessing.
Everyone attending modern weddings
hopes for good fortune for the married
couple, and if the celebrant is a priest, a
blessing on them will be pronounced.
(2)The Roman formal wedding included the
passing of a bride’s hand by the pronuba
into the hand of her husband to be, and
this still happens today, although it is the
bride’s father or other person who ‘gives
her away’ who usually does this. Ten
witnesses were required for the signing of
the marriage contract tabulae nuptiales,
(which would contain the detail of the
dowry dos brought by the bride) just as
nowadays two witnesses are required for
the signing of the marriage register, an
official, legal document. Virgil has Dido
imagining that lightning striking repeatedly
through the air during a storm are her
witnesses fulsere ignes et conscius
aether/conubiis and that, just as the two
most senior ancient Roman priests
presided at a confarreatio, personified
Earth and the goddess Juno (as pronuba)
are presiding over her wedding. The
equivalent official required to preside over
a modern wedding is the Registrar, a
Minister of Religion or a Marriage
Celebrant and it is this official who sees
that bride and groom each declare “I
(name), take you (name), to be my legal
wife (or husband)”.
An ancient Roman bride would have to say
ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia ‘Where you are
Gaius, I am Gaia’ meaning that the bride
now considered herself to be part of her
husband’s family. Modern brides who take
their husband’s surname as their own are
carrying on this custom.
A modern formal church wedding would be
likely to include one or more wedding
hymns, such as ‘God bless this marriage’.
Catullus repeats the chorus of a wedding
hymn O Hymen Hymenaee! in his poem
and the poet Virgil describes Queen Dido
hearing nymphs singing from the mountain
top summoque ulularunt vertice Nymphae
as she imagines she is marrying Aeneas.
After the ceremony and a feast, a Roman
bride and her wedding party would process
from her parents’ home to her new
husband’s home. Three young boys camilli
who had both parents living pueri
praetextati patrimi et matrimi would
accompany the bride and walnuts nuces
were tossed by the bridegroom to the
accompanying crowd to gather up. It was
as if he were throwing away childish things
(Roman children used walnuts as
playthings) and starting his adult life with
the new responsibility of having a wife and
his own home. The walnuts were practical
too, as their natural shell protected the
edible part from the dirt of the street and
meant that everything that was thrown
could be (and was wanted to be) picked up,
unlike the annoying modern confetti that
can be thrown nowadays as a newly
married couple starts the journey from the
wedding venue.
After the formal part of a wedding, ancient
or modern, comes feasting and dancing.
Catullus calls on the god of marriage to
beat the earth with feet, pelle humum
pedibus for Manlius’ wedding, and perhaps
Virgil was picturing the noise of the beat of
many dancers and the torchlights of guests
dancing in procession with the bride to her
new husband’s house when he wrote the
onomatopoeic magno misceri murmure
caelum/ incipit ‘the sky begins to resound
with overlapping rumblings of thunder’ and
fulsere ignes ‘lots of lightning flashed’. The
music at the end of a modern wedding
might well be thought of as loud rumblings
by older guests as they muse how the
institution of marriage is needed for each
new generation, but why does the music
have to be so loud!
A jurist Modestinus Dig.23.2.1 wrote that
in the classical era Roman marriage was
coniunctio mariti et feminae, consortium
omni vitae, divini et humani iuris
communicatio and the Oxford Classical
Dictionary states ‘Its main element was the
living together of man and woman with
intention of being husband and wife, of
procreating children, and of forming a
lasting union of life.’ For the modern world
this principal element remains the same.
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Latin for Achievement Standard 91510 resource 3.5B
Grade Boundary: High Merit
2.
To achieve at Merit the student is required to analyse Latin written texts clearly, using
linguistic and cultural knowledge to identify and expand on particular points and how
they link from the past to subsequent cultures. Latin references/quotations are
unambiguous and an English explanation of them is given.
This is a High Merit because the student has expanded on e.g. (1) the role of the
pronuba, linking it to the role played by the bride’s father and matron of
honour/bridesmaid in today’s weddings and (2) the idea of marriage contracts and
witnesses.
Reference has been made to the texts of (3) Virgil and (4) Catullus but the Latin
quotations have not been fully explained.
An example of cultural knowledge is displayed in (5).
To achieve at Excellence the student would need to explain or provide the English for
the Latin quotations in (3) and (4).
© Crown 2011
Student 2: High Merit
JUNE BRIDAL
SUPPLEMENT:
The ancient Roman
origins of our
wedding customs
By a Staff Reporter . . . .
The June bride – a concept associated with
weddings that have all the trimmings – has
been around as long as we can remember
and beyond. What is the story behind this
concept?
The month of June gets its name from Juno
- the Roman goddess connected with the
life and functions of women, such as
marriage and childbirth. (1) Juno was
believed to be present at a wedding to be
of assistance to the bride, hence Virgil
wrote in his description of what Dido
imagined was her marriage to Aeneas:
(3)Tellus et pronuba Iuno dant signum
Aeneid iv 166.
The pronuba at a Roman wedding was
always a respectable, married-only-once
woman who would have helped to dress
the bride, then at the ceremony placed the
bride’s hand into that of the bridegroom,
and finally accompanied the bride on a
procession to her new home, and even into
the bedroom, where she saw her safely
into the bed, before calling the new
bridegroom
(4)iam licet venias, marite/uxor in thalamo
tibi est. Catullus 61, 184. The modern
bridesmaid(s)/ maids of honour fulfil the
first of these tasks and usually the bride’s
father, the second. Of course the third
stage is nowadays very much more private,
with modern bride and groom making their
own way alone from the wedding
reception venue.
The process towards the organisation of a
modern wedding may have had a Roman
link if the couple met or placed any
significance on St Valentine’s day. Legend
has it that although the history of St
Valentine's Day is obscure, the origin of the
day stems from the ancient Roman festival
of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration held
annually on February 15.
C. 496, the pope of the day made this
pagan festival a Christian feast day,
declaring February 14 to be St. Valentine's
Day. However in 1969, the Catholic Church
revised its calendar, removing the feast day
of Saint Valentine as its historical origins
were questionable.
A marriage ceremony was not compulsory
in ancient Rome – all that was necessary to
legalize a marriage was for a couple to live
together for a year and have adfectio
maritalis – marital affection.
Roman families of aristocratic descent
wanted to maintain their power,
connections and wealth, and therefore felt
that marriage of their children was far too
important to be left to ‘falling in love’,
based on individual choice, as is usually the
case nowadays. (5) Accordingly many
ancient Roman marriages were arranged
for children, and betrothals/engagements
could be decided on between families
when a girl was as young as 7 years old,
although the prospective husband might
be considerably older. The actual marriage
would take place when the girl became
physically mature, which could be as young
as 14. In contrast a modern bride and
groom must be 18 years or older, unless
special permission is obtained, with the
consent of parents/guardians.
(2)A marriage contract, as mentioned by
Tacitus tabulas nuptiales Ann 11, 30 would
be drawn up prior to and signed at the
ancient wedding, held at the bride’s
parents’ house in the presence of ten
witnesses. The modern bride and groom
must sign the marriage register at their
wedding, although only two witnesses are
needed to witness their signature. The
couple (usually the bridegroom) must have
obtained a marriage licence from the
Registrar prior to their wedding. The
couple might also have chosen to sign a
pre-nuptial contract drawn up by a
solicitor, should there be need to define
ownership entitlements going beyond the
usual legal provisions of 50/50 ownership.
The language of the ancient Roman
wedding ceremony to be found in Catullus
Carmen 61 provides information on the
bride’s dress and role. We learn for
example that she wore flowers on her head
cinge tempora floribus/suave olentis
amarci ll. 6,7
Modern brides too spend much time on
choosing flowers- usually with the services
of a florist and also like their ancient
counterparts, they wear a white dress
tunica recta and a bridal veil. The ancient
veil flammeum was bright reddish-yellow,
as its name suggests, rather than the
modern white, and covered the bride from
head to foot. Catullus, again in Carmen 61,
speaking as if he were the pronuba, urged
a bride flammeum cape laetus, huc/ huc
veni, niveo gerens/luteum pede soccum
Official supervision of the ancient formal
wedding was made by two senior priests,
the Flamen Dialis and Pontifex Maximus
and similarly a modern wedding must have
a Marriage Celebrant, who may be a
Minister of Religion, or a Registrar. Both
ancient and modern brides receive a ring,
and wear it on the third finger of the left
hand. For the modern marriage to be
formalised, the bride and groom have to
declare “I (name), take you (name), to be
my legal wife (or husband)” much as a
Roman bride had to say ubi tu Gaius, ego
Gaia ‘Where you are Gaius, I am Gaia’.
An animal sacrifice will not usually take
place at a modern wedding as it did at the
ancient one, (but animals will usually have
been killed prior to the wedding ready for
the modern wedding breakfast).
As at the ancient Roman confarreatio, the
formal wedding with the wedding cake
made of spelt flour far, there will usually
be a wedding cake for the modern
occasion, for the couple to cut and share
with their guests.
Whereas the conclusion for the ancient
event would be a noisy procession from
the wedding venue (the bride’s parent’s
house) to the bride’s new home (at her
groom’s house) deductio in domum mariti,
guests at a modern wedding usually just
wave the couple goodbye on their journey
from the wedding venue with encouraging
cries and shouts.
Expectations of status and responsibilities
of the new wife understandably differ from
st
the time of ancient Rome to the 21
century, but some hopes remain the same.
It is natural for both husband and wife to
expect the other to care for them and be
true to them, and both to hope for a
marriage that will last for life.
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Latin for Achievement Standard 91510 resource 3.5B
Grade Boundary: Low Merit
3.
The student has expanded on some particular points e.g. (1) the Roman bride’s attire
and (2) the procession to the bridegroom’s home after the ceremony. An example of
cultural knowledge is shown in (2).
This is a Low Merit because the student has not linked the dress of the Roman bride
with that of a modern bride and has not expanded on e.g. (3) the role of the pronuba.
To achieve a more secure Merit the student would need to expand on more points e.g.
(4) the choice of wedding day, (5) the young attendants and ensure that appropriate
links are made to modern wedding customs.
© Crown 2011
Student 3: Low Merit
BEAUTIFUL GIRL
WEDS HER ‘ROMAN’
Ancient Roman theme
intrigues guests
The wedding took place today between
Claudia Julii, popular host of TV’s NEWS
programme, and her fiancé, Dr Marcus
Aemilius, lecturer in the Classics Dept of our
city’s university. “In our wedding we want
to acknowledge the length of tradition that
lies behind a western wedding ceremony,”
said Julii, when interviewed by our reporter
last week “and since my fiancé has studied
ancient Roman literature, he has been able
to tell me what lies behind many of the
customs that we shall be observing on our
wedding day.”
Dr Aemilius added, “Of course society has
changed so much – we won’t be including
Roman customs that don’t suit the modern
world, but there is quite a bit in the writings
of some ancient authors to show that some
of what the Romans did for weddings still
makes good sense and would be expected
to occur today.
(4) “Following Roman custom we have
chosen a day in June, for our wedding. We
are going to start our wedding at my bride’s
parents’ home, and friends and relatives
will gather there to wait for her to appear in
(1) her white tunic tunica recta with a
coronet of flowers in her hair and wearing a
long, head to foot reddish-yellow veil
flammeum and yellow sandals lutei socci.
Unfortunately Latin literature doesn’t tell us
the reason for the reddish and yellow
colours, although many authors (e.g.
Catullus in Carmen 61 flammeum cape
laetus, huc/huc veni, niveo gerens/luteum
pede soccum referred to its association with
weddings. Claudia has decided to follow
this dress custom, although it will seem
strange to our guests, I’m sure.”
Our reporter who attended the wedding
today observed that guests were indeed
surprised, but that there was much in what
occurred that was not surprising to them.
(3) Both Julia and her mother shed a tear as
Julia’s hand in the presence of the marriage
celebrant was passed by the pronuba (her
married sister, performing the role of
matron of honour. This is not too far
removed from Catullus’ description in
Carmen 61 of a Roman bride at the same
stage of her wedding flet quod ire necesse
est.
All the guests joined in singing a wedding
hymn, just as Catullus described nuptiala
concinens and also Plautus in his play
Casina: age, tibicen, dum illum educunt huc
novam nuptam foras, suavi cantu
concelebra
omnem
hanc
plateam
hymenaeo.
(5) There was another nice touch during the
procession – in Roman fashion three young
boys (the modern bride’s nephews) were
attendants for the bride.
For the wedding to be legal nowadays, the
couple had to get a marriage license before
the day of the wedding and at the
ceremony they were obliged to say “I ......,
take you ......, to be my legal wife (or
husband)” before the marriage register was
signed, much as a Roman bride would have
to say ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia. There had to
be two witnesses to the modern-day
signing whereas at a formal Roman
wedding confarreatio there had to be ten to
witness the signing of the marriage contract
tabulae nuptiales. The Latin word for a
formal wedding confarreatio explains
another custom observed at this wedding having a wedding cake. The Roman cake
was made from flour ground from a grain
called far (spelt) and Marcus and Claudia
certainly had a lovely wedding cake.
Of course later, at the time of the wedding
meal cena, the best man read out some
messages from people who could not
attend, and some of them were rather
rude. The Romans used to have some
obscenities Fescennina iocatio at a wedding
too, when they shouted out deprecatory
comments to prevent the happy couple
being so pleased with themselves that a
jealous ‘evil eye’ fascinium might do them
some harm.
There was no sacrifice of a pig, as there
might have been at an ancient wedding, but
tasty roast pork was part of the marriage
feast!
(2) After the wedding breakfast, unlike the
usual modern wedding, the guests at
yesterday’s wedding did not have to go
home. Instead, everyone joined in a happy
and noisy procession deductio in domum
mariti towards the groom’s house, where
the married couple were to make their
home. Along the way, just as in Roman
times, guests shone torches, although the
Roman ones would have had a naked flame
rather than torches powered by batteries or
solar cells. Catullus emphasised the role of
torches at weddings by mentioning them
repeatedly in Carmen 61 – pineam quate
taedam, faces splendidas quatiunt comas,
faces aureas quatiunt comas and tollite
faces. They appear in his poem again and
again, just as the beams from the modern
torches must have repeatedly caught the
eye of anyone witnessing last night’s
procession. Of course ancient torches had
to be swung about to fan their flame, so
they might have been moved about more
often than modern ones.
The conclusion for the guests at yesterday’s
wedding was the sight of the bride tossing
away her bouquet to the crowd, as she was
being lifted over the doorstep of her new
home. Two ancient traditions were being
kept alive here – the ancient Roman bride
would have used her flaming torch to light a
fire in the hearth of her new home, before
extinguishing the torch and then tossing it
away, possibly to a member of the crowd.
And lifting the bride over the threshold of
her new home prevented the chance of her
stumbling, which would have been a bad
omen for the future of the marriage.
Plautus referred to the need for a bride to
step carefully over the threshold. ‘Move on
and raise your feet a little over the
threshold,
newly
married
bride!
Prosperously commence this journey . . .’.
Yesterday’s guests were pleased to be
wishing this interesting young couple just
such a journey, after a very different
wedding indeed!
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Latin for Achievement Standard 91510 resource 3.5B
Grade Boundary: High Achieved
4.
To achieve the student is required to analyse Latin written texts, using linguistic and
cultural knowledge to break down the Latin written text(s) and to identify and explore
particular points, connections, inferences, themes, ideas, and/or attitudes and how they
link from the past to subsequent culture(s).
This a High Achieved because the student has referred to Roman texts (1) to identify
the Roman bride’s attire (2) to identify the duties of the pronuba and has made links to
the modern customs but has not expanded on many of the other points made, e.g. (3)
the confarreatio, and (4) the bride’s attendants, or has not linked the Roman custom to
the modern one e.g. (6) the witnesses. An example of cultural knowledge is shown in
(5).
To achieve at Merit level the student would need to ensure that some particular points
were expanded on e.g. (2) the duties of the pronuba and (3) the implications of the
ceremony of the confarreatio. The student should also ensure that clear links are made
to the modern practices.
© Crown 2011
Student 4: High Achieved
PERPETUATING
CUSTOM Something to think about
when you attend your next
wedding
When you next watch a marriage celebrant
or minister of religion putting a bride and
bridegroom through their paces, and think
about all the fuss that has gone into
arranging this one day of celebration, cast
your mind back to the time of the ancient
Romans, when it all started. For we have
much to owe to the Romans for many
aspects of the customs observed at a
modern wedding.
To begin with, all the showy aspects of the
day, the bride’s dress, the flowers, the
attendants, the ceremony with its formal
language, the music and the feast were
what made and still do make the day a
special one, to acknowledge the special
life-long commitment being made by two
people. (3) The Romans called a wedding
like this the confarreatio, a word that is
supposed to come from the special cake
that was shared at the wedding, just as we
do, though our ceremony is not named
after the cake!
What made the Roman bride’s dress
special were a white frock tunica recta and
a long veil flammeum. We have retained
this custom, but a modern bride’s veil
would be white rather than flame-red. (1)
Catullus mentioned this veil flammeum
cape laetus. A Roman bride usually had
flowers in her hair, as Catullus described
cinge tempora floribus. Modern brides
often have flowers in their hair too, and of
course usually carry a posy or bouquet.
(4) The bride’s attendants today also have
ancient precedents. The ancient bride had
camilli – three young boys – to accompany
her during the wedding procession, just as
the modern bride has a flower girl
sprinkling rose petals or a page boy
carrying rings.
For adult support, the ancient bride had
the pronuba, a married woman, as a
modern bride has a maid or matron of
honour. (2)The pronuba however had
duties beyond helping the bride to dress –
it was she who put the bride’s hand into
that of the groom, as a father of the bride
would do today. The poet Virgil had Dido
imagine that Juno was her pronuba when
she spent time in a cave with Aeneas
prima et Tellus et pronuba Iuno.
Two senior priests supervised a formal
Roman wedding in the bride’s parents’
home, but a modern wedding requires a
minister of religion, an authorised marriage
celebrant or the Marriage Registrar (a civil
servant) to do this, at the venue which has
been written on the marriage license.
Whereas the modern bride and groom
each declare “I (name), take you (name), to
be my legal wife (or husband)” an ancient
Roman bride would have to say ‘Where
you are Gaius, I am Gaia’. These are the
only words from the ceremony which have
come down to us, although it is said that
the groom offered fire and water to the
bride once she reached his house.
Any type of music is allowed to be played
at a modern wedding but if the ceremony
is held in a church, there might well be a
wedding hymn. Catullus writes one line of
a wedding hymn O Hymen Hymenaee!
again and again in poem 61, suggesting
that the Romans used to sing this phrase
repeatedly during the wedding ceremony.
(5) One thing we do not do at a modern
wedding that the Romans did is sacrifice an
animal to the gods to seek blessings and
good fortune for the bride and groom. Our
equivalent could be the various
superstitions associated with weddings,
e.g. how lucky it is if a bride sees a black
cat on the way to her wedding, or if the
wedding date has certain numbers
repeated or in series in it, and how
unlucky it would be if she were to stumble
walking into her new home. Plautus in his
play Casina includes a caution to a bride to
lift her feet when making such an entrance.
Because a marriage contract (which would
have included details about the dos dowry
provided by the bride’s father) was signed
at an ancient Roman wedding, (6) there
had to be witnesses – ten in fact. The
modern equivalent is the signing of the
marriage register. For Dido’s imaginary
wedding, the poet Virgil described the air
itself as a witness conscius aether conubiis.
Plautus describes a bride as young and
inexperienced integrae atque imperitiae.
As for today, after the ceremony and a nice
dinner, the ancient bride and groom
started their journey into life together.
They had a walk to complete, from her
parents’ home to his home, and this was
done at night, with people carrying flaming
torches faces to light the way. They also
called out rude, Fescennine verses to the
married couple to avert the evil eye. When
people make speeches at weddings
nowadays, they also sometimes say rude
things, but this is more to embarrass the
bride and groom, rather than to ward off
bad luck.
The modern day wedding would be most
unlikely to end with a procession, but
guests usually gather around the door of
the wedding venue and cheer the bride
and groom as they drive away for their
honeymoon. Wherever weddings have
been or are held, the principal wish of all
who attend is that the couple will live
happily ever after!
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Latin for Achievement Standard 91510 resource 3.5B
Grade Boundary: Low Achieved
5.
This work is a Low Achieved because the student has analysed a Latin text to identify
and explore the ideas of e.g. (1) the Roman bride’s attire and (2) the handing over of
the bride to her new husband. Links have been made with the modern customs.
Other aspects e.g. (3) the marriage contract are mentioned but not expanded on.
To achieve a more secure Achieved the student should expand on e.g. the duties of
the pronuba, and the Roman marriage contract.
© Crown 2011
Student 5: Low Achieved
VEIL, FLOWERS, CAKE
and CONFETTI:
The modern bride owes
much to her ancient sisters
As engaged NZ girls plan a formal wedding
for this coming summer, how many of
them will realise that their weddings will
include customs that can be read about in
Latin poetry by Catullus and are over 2000
years old?
st
Although the 21 century is one of vast
freedoms for individuals in the western
world, the custom of marriage between a
man and a woman remains an important
part of society, largely because of the
family unit it has the potential of creating.
So it is probably not surprising that along
with the survival of the practice of
marriage, has come the continuance of
many of the customs associated with the
wedding ceremony.
When the modern bride wears a white
dress and a veil, she is doing exactly as a
formal bride would have done in ancient
Rome, though(1) nowadays the veil would
probably be white rather than flame red flammeum and might not stretch from
head to heel, as the ancient one could. The
modern girl would not be likely to have
yellow sandals luteum soccum, either, nor
would her white dress be a tunic tunica
recta.
Hairdressers and florists have a great deal
to do with modern weddings, and the
desire to look well groomed and waft
sweet-smelling fragrance was exactly the
same for the ancients. Catullus describes a
bride called Junia, having her hair swathed
in the fragrant red flowers of the marjoram
plant floribus suave olentis amaraci. A
modern bride with a garland of red
rosebuds (representing true love) in her
hair carries on that tradition, but unlike the
ancient bride, she probably would not have
picked the flowers herself.
At Junia’s ceremony, a wedding hymn was
sung and there was dancing pelle humum
pedibus. If a modern wedding is in a
church, there will probably be a wedding
hymn, and even for outdoor weddings,
music is usually played both at some stage
during the ceremony and also for dancing
after the wedding breakfast. How better to
celebrate a happy day than with singing,
feasting and dancing?
(2)When a modern father gives his
daughter away at the wedding ceremony
he places the bride’s hand into that of the
bridegroom. This was done at a Roman
wedding too, although it was the matron of
honour pronuba, not the bride’s father,
who did this.
The pronuba also called the bridegroom
into the bridal bedroom, but the nearest
we get to that custom is when the best
man or other speaker at a modern wedding
makes some jokes in giving the newly
married couple some bedroom advice.
The modern bride also often has a flower
girl and a page boy as attendants, and
this carries on the Roman tradition of
three
young
boys
camilli
who
accompanied the bride.
The wedding cake was so much part of an
ancient Roman formal wedding that it is
said that the term for the ceremony
actually came from the cake – confarreatio
made from the grain called spelt - far.
Wedding cakes today range from chocolate
sponge to a rich, dried fruit cake.
Neighbours of a bride today are always
keen to see her leave the house on her way
to be married. Catullus knew this
eagerness too, writing prodeas, nova
nupta, ‘
A modern bride and groom who have
decided to sign (3) a prenuptial contract to
protect their assets will be following the
ancient custom of a marriage contract
tabulae nuptiales, drawn up between the
two families and usually specifying what
dowry the bride was bringing to the
marriage.
It is a legal requirement at a modern NZ
wedding for the bride and groom to
declare before a celebrant or registrar: “I
(name), take you (name), to be my legal
wife (or husband)”. When the bride says
this, it is very similar to an ancient Roman
bride’s saying ‘Where you are Gaius, I am
Gaia’.
And when modern guests throw confetti
on the newly married couple, they are
following the Ancient Roman tradition of
tossing things over the young couple.
Roman guests tossed walnuts – not paper
confetti.
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Latin for Achievement Standard 91510 resource 3.5B
Grade Boundary: High Not Achieved
6.
The student has made links between Roman and modern wedding customs but many
of them are generalised e.g. (1).
The Roman bride’s dress and (2) wedding ceremony have been commented on and
linked to modern practices but only individual Latin words rather than text have been
used.
To reach Achieved the student needs to show analysis of Latin texts to explore the
Roman wedding ceremony and bride’s dress and to support the idea of attendants.
© Crown 2011
Student 6: High Not Achieved
WEDDINGS HAVE A
LONG HISTORY . . . .
In the introduction to her recently
published book, ‘The Roman Wedding’,
Karen Hersch observes that it is difficult to
understand the meaning behind ancient
rituals because of the length of time that
has passed, incomplete evidence of
procedure and the fact that for the most
part, all written evidence has been
produced by upper-class males.
When attending a modern formal wedding,
however, a person who has learned some
of what is known about Roman wedding
customs cannot help but recognise some
links between the two formal ceremonies.
(1)Clearly for both societies the purpose of
such weddings is to make it known to
friends, family and the community that two
people intend from henceforth to live
together and share purpose in their lives.
Families who cared about heritage and
passing on their family blood would be
hopeful too that the marriage of the two
people would produce a new generation of
the family.
Both ceremonies would involve a day of
celebration with a formal ceremony
presided over by an official(s) and attended
and witnessed by family and friends, with
set formulaic wording for the bride or bride
and groom to have to declare and an
official document to be signed.
Both ceremonies would be followed by a
feast shared by the two families involved,
including having a wedding cake, before
the newly married couple departed from
the function to spend their first night
together as a married couple.
Both bride and groom would be dressed in
a special way and would have taken
trouble with their appearance, to please
each other and to make the day beyond
the ordinary.
For participants of both the ancient Roman
and modern NZ formal weddings, the
intention would be that the marriage was a
lifetime commitment, with virtually no
possibility (for the Romans) and no
intention (for the modern couple) of
obtaining divorce.
Differences would be that the Romans
would be patrician by birth, whereas the
modern NZ couple most likely would not
have any aristocratic blood.
(2) At the formal Roman wedding
confarreatio, the bride would be dressed in
white, with yellow-red veil called the
flammeum and yellow shoes. She would
have flowers in her hair. Two priests would
preside over the ceremony, the Flamen
Dialis and the Pontifex Maximus. Each of
these men would have had to have been
married to his own wife at a confarreatio.
The matron of honour pronuba, who would
be a married woman who had been
married only once would place the hand of
the bride into the groom’s and ten
witnesses had to watch the signing of the
marriage contract.
The arrangements at a modern wedding
are very similar. The modern bride at a
formal church wedding usually wears a
white dress with a veil (although it would
be white in colour) and has flowers in her
hair.
Instead of the pronuba, the father of the
modern bride usually passes her hand into
the groom’s, and only one minister of
religion or a marriage celebrant is needed
to preside over the ceremony.
The modern couple have to declare that
they are willing to marry each other and
then, according to the Marriage Act 1955,
must say “I (name), take you (name), to be
my legal wife (or husband)”, whereas a
Roman bride had to say ubi tu Gaius, ego
Gaia ‘Where you are Gaius, I am Gaia’. The
ancient Roman bridegroom apparently did
not have to say such a formula, but later,
when the couple entered their new home,
he had to offer his bride fire and water as
symbols of what are the necessaries of life.
At a modern wedding only two witnesses
are required for the signing of the marriage
register.
Modern brides sometime have young
children as attendants – a little page boy to
carry the wedding rings on a cushion and a
little flower girl to scatter rose petals on
the path the bride walks on. For the
ancient Roman wedding there were three
young boys who walked with the bride
during the procession to her new home.
Two walked on either side of her and one
walked in front of her holding a flaming
wedding torch.
At both ancient and modern weddings
there would be singing and dancing.
Whereas a wedding song such as ‘O perfect
love’ or ‘I’m in heaven’ might be sung at a
modern wedding, the Romans sang a
wedding hymn to Hymen, the god of
Marriage.