Weddings in ancient Rome
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In Ancient Rome a wedding was seen as a sacred ritual which involved many religious practices. Both sexes would have specific clothing they needed to wear at the wedding. The Roman wedding was a large celebration. The attendees would hold a feast and wave torches called Spina Alba. Afterwards, the bride and the groom would have their first sexual experiences on a couch called a Lectus. The Roman wedding was possibly depicted in the Villa of the Mysteries and definitely depicted in Roman literature.
Clothing
Before the wedding either the boy would put down his bulla and toga praetexta, than the boy would put on his toga virillis. Usually a boy would start wearing a toga virillis around puberty, although it could happen whenever the boy's parents believed he was sexually mature.[1] The bulla would be dedicated to Lares.[1] The girl would take of their toga and get rid of the toys she had prior to the wedding. Afterwards both sexes would than put on a royal white tunica recta. The women would weave the tunica recta themselves. This was a symbolic act because once the bride was married they would have to weave her family's clothes. The bride would also wear a infulae on wedding day.[1]
The bride's hair would be covered in the seni crines, a wreath and a veil called the flammeum. Women would also wear a yellow hairnet before the wedding. This is because the hairnet was dedicated to the Lares and the color yellow was also significant in a Roman wedding because it was the color of the flammeum.[2]The bride's hair would be dressed by the hasta caelibaris, which translates to celibate spear.[2]The Hasta Caelibaris had symbolic power to the Romans. The usage of the Hasta displayed the husband's authority over his bride. It also protected against a troubled marriage.[2] Both sexes would wear chaplets of roses.[3]
The bride's clothes would have been similar to a priestess' clothing. All of the attendees of a marriage would wear the same clothes as the groom and the bride. The reason the attendees would do this is to make sure any evil spirits would be unable to figure out who was the groom and who was the bride.[4] To the Romans the wedding was a sacred affair, and if the bride wore improper clothing it would be an attack on Roman Morality and chaste Roman women. In order to prove to the gods that the wedding was in good faith, many people would have to view the bride in her garb.
Organization
The Roman wedding had many religious acts.The groom would chose the date of the wedding. However, he could not chose any day of the year because many days were considered unlucky. June was the preferred month for the wedding to take place, because it was the month of Juno, and Juno was the god of childbirth and marriage.[5] Before the wedding the family of the bride would have sought the protection of the gods and they preformed small sacrifices and gave coins to Lares.
The wedding would take place at the house of the bride's father.[5] At the house where the wedding would take place there would be a large feast. During the feast the attendees would be served a special cake made of grape juice called a mustaceum. By the time it was the evening the groom pretended to take the bride by force from her mother's arms. This was so the house hold gods would not think the bride was willingly leaving them to got the groom's house. The Romans believed the only bride of value was a virgin that had to be stolen from their family. Because of this belief, the Romans would simulate the bride being abducted from her family. The bride was supposed to cry out in pain as she was herded along the route to her new house.[6] As the bride would be taken to her new home, attendees would sing the Hymenaeus and carry a whitehorn torch called a Spina Alba to honor Ceres.[6] When the procession arrived at the groom's house the groom would enter first and the bride would enter second only after smearing the doorway with sheep wool covered in oil and fat. The bride would have no gods protecting her until she arrived at the groom's house. The bride would officially be taken in to her husband's family by fire and water, this act was symbolic of life. To visualize the consummation of marriage the groom would break a loaf of bread over the bride's head. Sheaves of wheat would also be thrown at the bride.[7]
Once at the groom's house the groom and the bride would relax on a richly ornamented couch or bed called a lectus or genialis. On the lectus the bride and groom would have their first sexual experiences together. As soon as the couple entered either the bedroom or the groom's house they were considered married.
Customs
Religious
The gods of the Roman wedding were Juno, Venus, Hymean, and occasionally Terra.[6] It was believed that if the people getting married were unlucky or evil people, omens would appear at the wedding
showing that it is the case. Alternatively, if no omens appeared during the wedding than that would also symbolize that the bride and the husband were unlucky or evil.[6] In Rome it was only believed that you could have a happy marriage if you followed all of the customs and had no evil omens. The bride was the focus of the wedding, because of this her face would be painted red.
Non-Religious
In Rome, the ideal bride would be both frightened and joyful about their marriage. The bride would also be expected to learn to submit to their husbands. Ideally, the bride would have no sexual experience anyone other than the groom. This is because the purpose of the Roman wedding was to ensure that the bride would reproduce in the confines of a legal marriage. The ideal groom was supposed to be sexually experienced and eager for the wedding to take place. Since the purpose of the bride was to legitimately reproduce, mocking the bride was equivalent to attacking the Roman family structure. For the same reason, the bride had to follow all traditions perfectly, if they didn't than the children of the marriage would be illegitimate. The Romans expected to see the bride make a public display of their fear of the wedding. The validity or Conubium[8] of a Roman wedding was partially determined by the suffering of the bride.
Depictions in Art and Literature
In the ancient city of Pompeii some of the fresco's on the Villa of the Mysteries may depict marriages. However it is entirely possible these are actually depictions of a woman being introduced into Dionysian cults or they are depictions of beauty pageants that were honoring Dionysus. It is also possible both are true. Wedding depictions in Ancient Rome generally depict links between the marriage and the gods of Rome. In Roman literature the bride at a wedding is usually depicted as a grieving woman that needs to be persuaded or forced to marry a man.[6]
Same-Sex Marriages
It is unknown whether or not same-sex marriages were legal in Rome. The sources that refer to same-sex marriages could refer to concubinage and sexual acts. However, there is evidence of same-sex marriages from the constitution of Constantine and Constans in the Codex Theodosius. The Codex states "Cum vir nubit in feminam viro porrecturam quod cupiat, ubi sexus perdidit locum, ubi scelus est id, quod non proficit scire, ubi venus mutatur in alteram formam, ubi amor quaeritur nec videtur, iubemus insurgere leges, armari iura gladio ultore, ut exquisitis poenis subdantur infames, qui sunt vel qui futuri sunt rei." This quote refers to a man marrying the way a woman would have married. The text could be describing a same-sex relationship, however it could also be describing a law banning same-sex relationships.
There are other notable examples of same-sex relationships in Rome. Emperor Elagabalus had been recorded as marrying either an enslaved chariot-driver named Hierocles or a Smyrnese athlete named Zoticus. Elagabalus was named wife, mistress, and queen. It is unlikely Elagabalus legitimately married.
Emperor Nero married a male slave named Sporus. Nero castrated Sporus and treated Sporus like a woman. Nero did legitimately marry Sporus, even assigning him a Dowry. Nero also married a slave named Pythagoras. However, sources disagree on whether or not those marriages were legitimate.
In Juvenal's Satire 2 two men have a homosexual relationship, with one man taking the role of the woman and wearing the bridal garb. It is possible the Satire did not represent reality, and the same-sex marriage was merely a work of fiction.[9]
References
- ^ a b c Keith, Alison (2009). Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture. University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division. ISBN 978-144-269-189-6.
- ^ a b c Sebesta, Judith Lynn (2001). The World of Roman Costume. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 54–61. ISBN 978-029-913-854-7.
- ^ Franklin, Anna. The Origins of the Midsummer Celebration.
- ^ Fusaro, Kim. "Is It Finally Time to Toss the Matchy-Matchy Bridesmaid Dress Tradition?". Glamour. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
- ^ a b Daugherty, Gregory (2007). To Be A Roman. United States of America: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. pp. 19–22. ISBN 978-161-041-169-1.
- ^ a b c d e Hersch, Karen K (2010). The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-052-112-427-0.
- ^ Hamilton, Emily (2011). The Analysis and Treatment of Food Artifacts: A Sugar Paste Wedding Cake Topper and President Grover Cleveland’s Wedding Cake. Buffalo State College.
- ^ Phang, Sara Elise (2001). The Marriage of Roman Soldiers (13 B.C.-A.D. 235): Law and Family in the Imperial Army. Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-900-412-155-3.
- ^ Gellérfi, Gergő (2020). Nubit amicus: Same-sex weddingsin Imperial Rome. Hungary: University of Szeged.
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