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Marriage in Ancient Rome
Jana Lindsay, Daniel Esh, and Tony Yung
FYS 20 History 106, Professor Matthew Perry
Marriage
In Ancient Rome, people practiced a
monogamous (one spouse) marriage. It
was sacred between a man and woman
and was acknowledged as a necessity
by society. This necessity was the ideal
role for many Roman men: to wed in
order to produce legitimate offspring to
carry on the family name.
“Marriage is like pi--natural, irrational
and very important.”
“Don’t marry someone you can live
with; marry the person who you cannot
live without” – James Morwood
The Ceremony
Traditions of Weddings
The traditions that the Ancient
Romans followed in terms of
marriage included:
•  Selective dresses and hair/head
dressings for women
•  Cleaning of new home for the
newly wedded couple by women
•  Carrying of the wife threw the
door on wedding day
These traditions were believed by the Ancient Romans to drive
away evil spirits and enhance the luck of the family and having a
successful marriage.
Divorce
Bibliography
Balme, M, & Morwood, J. (2003). On
the margin. New York: Oxford UP.
Pomeroy, S. B. (1975). Goddesses,
whores, wives, and slaves. New York:
Schocken Books.
In Ancient Rome, couples can be divorced
by the following:
•  Death
•  Loss of a citizenship
•  Agreement to a separation
Death and loss of citizenship were
commonly used, and not complicated,
when utlizing divorce; but couples who
agreed to separate became complicated.
•  The man had more power than the
woman dealing with divorce. He could
dismiss his wife, or he could have less
than reasonable reasons for divorce and
it would be valid.
Before the marriage, the couple to be wed
had to pretend to be reluctant about marrying
each other. It consisted of:
•  The man calling his bride his wife
•  The woman calling her groom her husband
•  “Foedus lecti” which meant they were to
have children during their wedding night
•  Participate in a religious cult, to initiate
that the woman was apart of a new family
•  Dinner and a drinking party
Powers, J. G. (1997). Ancient weddings.
Able Media.
What Happens to the Woman?
•  A Roman girl at the age of fourteen was able to be married off.
•  Her father would choose a husband.
•  Raising children and managing the household were the most
important jobs of a wife.
•  Depending on wealth, higher-class women had slaves to help,
whereas the lower-class women depended on themselves.
•  Any inheritance that a woman would receive would instead be
given to the man.
Rawson, B. (Ed.). (1991). Marriage.
divorce and children in Ancient Rome.
Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Treggiari, S. (1991). Roman marriage:
Iusti coniuges from the time of Cicero to
the time of Ulpian. Oxford: Clarendon.