Anthony Sukkar Matthias Vasits Faiva Sailosi

Conditions Of Marriage Marriages usually took place when the groom was 14 and when the bride was at least the age of 12. Parents often gave their blessings to marriages for political or social reasons. The search by both parties or their families will, often was complicated. For the girl's family, it was important to have a husband ready to marry her at that short- lived and not precisely predictable moment when she was “ripe”.

Types Of Marriages The most traditional type of marriage was called confarreatio. It was an elaborate ceremony with the Flamen Dialis and Pontifex Maximus leading, as well as ten witnesses present. During the brides entry, she would pass from her parents, to her in-laws or manus. Next in line, is coemptio. It represented a "bride purchase“, as the groom made a payment and received the bride in exchange. Only five witnesses were required and the wedding ceremony was much less formal than confarreatio, but the bride still passed to her husband's manus. The third type was Usus. This particular type did not require an actual wedding ceremony; it was a transfer to the manus of the husband by contract, or word. An easy marriage? Well the couple had to stay together for one full year, and furthermore if, within that year, the woman was away for three consecutive nights, she would not pass into the manus of her husband.

Preparing For A Wedding There were three main circumstances that had to have been carried out, these include; 1) both partners must have a coniubium. 2) physical maturity (before marriage the couple had to have reached puberty). 3) consent. Marriages without one or more of these requirements were thought invalid. Character was probably a more important quality than good looks, but still not nearly as important as rank or wealth, for women, this was a quality that was revered and respected above all others. Furthermore, a woman's character was often determined by the characters of her relatives; ruling out in-law problems. Before the Wedding guests would meet at the bride’s home, and together the couple would announce their engagement. There were no legal contracts, instead the groom would seal it all off with a kiss, and a proposal of an iron ring.

The Wedding Ceremony During the ceremony, the Roman bride needed to renounce her childhood before she could properly prepare for her life as wife and mother. To do this, she began by surrendering her childhood toys and toga praetexta as a form of remembrance. The ceremony took place in the brides home, so after it they went from the brides home to the groom’s home, and the couple and guests would enact the scene of the seizure of the Sabines. Later the same night, the bride’s parents would hand her to the groom, for the final time, and the bride (by now, a married woman) would be escorted to her room, and undressed, her jewellery was removed, and the groom would also enter, either escorted or alone, and the couple were left alone, to start their new life…

The Ideal Marriage While procreation was the main motive for marriage, there were many other virtues that made the ideal wife. The first of these qualities was that she shall remain faithful to one man her whole life, and it was seen respectful to die before her husband. If widowed, she may not receive certain religious ceremonies. A Roman marriage was expected to be a partnership between husband and wife as explained in this short passage by ancient authors ; The notion of marriage as partnership was so established, then, as to be part of the civic rhetoric and the public sphere. The many literary and epigraphic references to companionship, mutual loyalty and support, and the ideal of a happy and harmonious marriage show that this was part of a popular ideal as well as public and imperial ideology.