{"id":183,"date":"2016-02-13T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T10:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/?p=183"},"modified":"2016-06-23T14:20:09","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T13:20:09","slug":"betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/2016\/02\/13\/betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome\/","title":{"rendered":"Betrothal and Childhood in Ancient Rome"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"kent-social-links\"><li><a href='http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/2016\/02\/13\/betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome\/&amp;t=Betrothal and Childhood in Ancient Rome' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-facebook' title='Share via Facebook'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=Betrothal and Childhood in Ancient Rome%20https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/2016\/02\/13\/betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-twitter' title='Share via Twitter'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/share?url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/2016\/02\/13\/betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-google-plus' title='Share via Google Plus'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/2016\/02\/13\/betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome\/&amp;title=Betrothal and Childhood in Ancient Rome' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-linkedin' title='Share via Linked In'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='mailto:content=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/2016\/02\/13\/betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome\/&amp;title=Betrothal and Childhood in Ancient Rome' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-email' title='Share via Email'><\/i><\/a><\/li><\/ul><p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/files\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-26-at-11.29.50-AM.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-40\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-40\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/files\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-26-at-11.29.50-AM-245x300.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2015-11-26 at 11.29.50 AM\" width=\"245\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/files\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-26-at-11.29.50-AM-245x300.png 245w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/files\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-26-at-11.29.50-AM.png 266w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 245px) 100vw, 245px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">\u2018Let me be read by a girl who warms to her betrothed\u2019 (Ovid <em>Amores <\/em>2.1.5).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">The Lucius films have a strong focus on betrothal of teenage boys and younger girls by their fathers. Looking at the comments on YouTube, we\u2019ve found that there are many people confusing the idea of Lucius being engaged to a 7 year old with the concept he would marry a 7 year old. Roman minimum age for marriage for girls was 12 years (interestingly it was fourteen years for males). What is so fascinating about the Romans is the idea in childhood that betrothal involved children of such different ages. This idea lies at the very heart of both films \u2013 a piece of research published by Mary Harlow of the University of Leicester and Ray Laurence of the University of Kent. In this blog, we connect you to the research behind the film on betrothal and to the key ancient sources on the subject.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Betrothal was the announcement, or mutual promise, of marriage, underlying this announcement was agreement or consent to the betrothal. It needed to be agreed by the fathers of the children to be married, and the boy and girl also needed to give their consent. All parties needed to be old enough to understand what was being done and the nature of consent to marriage. The age of seven was picked out by lawyers as the minimum age for consent.\u00a0\u00a0 Thus, in the film, you will have seen a seven year old girl becoming betrothed to a teenage Lucius. They would not have been able to legally marry until she was twelve \u2013 the minimum age for marriage in ancient Rome for girls. A key feature of betrothal was gift-giving that caused the girl to gain rings, jewels, ear-rings and so on. In this blog, some of the issues of age and gift giving are explained, and we provide the evidence from antiquity that provides us with the information lies at the heart of the Lucius films.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\"><strong>Gift Giving and Betrothal<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Once betrothed, the girl was referred to as a <em>sponsa <\/em>and the boy as a <em>sponsus.<\/em> The gift of a finger ring by the <em>sponsus <\/em>to his <em>sponsa<\/em> occurred at this point and was regarded as a tradition stretching back in time. Numerous examples of these finger rings, that were betrothal gifts survive from antiquity. These tend feature images of joined hands (<em>dextrarum iunctio), <\/em>or the name of the <em>sponsus, <\/em>or a young man\u2019s and young girl\u2019s heads in profile facing each other. The range of gifts found in Roman law can include a farm, livestock, and slaves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">In <a style=\"color: #ffffff\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RQMgLxVxsrw\">Four Sisters in Ancient Rome<\/a>, you will have seen the betrothed Domitia with all her jewels- this idea comes from Tertullian\u2019s <em>Apology<\/em> (section 6)\u2013 a Christian Text that attacks the luxury of engagement-rings and all the gifts given to the <em>sponsa<\/em> by the <em>sponsus. <\/em> The film allowed us to visualise this text of <a style=\"color: #ffffff\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/theapologyoftert00tertuoft#page\/22\/mode\/2up\">Tertullian\u2019s linked here<\/a> \u2013 you need page 22. It is also worth taking a look at how Pliny in the first century AD saw the development of both finger rings and the wearing of the <em>bulla<\/em> by male children in <a style=\"color: #ffffff\" href=\"http:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D33%3Achapter%3D6\"><em>The Natural History <\/em>33.4 (link here)<\/a><em>. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">The practice of these gifts at betrothal can be found right across the empire, not just in the Mediterranean, but also in Britain) and in graves of women from the Rhineland There were other gifts to the future bride: necklaces, bejewelled net-caps, bracelets, highly ornate clothing, all of which may seen to constitute the <em>insignia sponsalarium. The<\/em> evidence for this comes from the life of the emperors known as the <em>Two Maximini<\/em> \u2013 the younger of whom is described as a truly beautiful young man \u2013 he died young at the age of 21 (though some said at the age of 18). He was engaged to Junia Fadilla and gave her the following: a necklace with 9 pearls, a hat with 11 emeralds, a bracelet with 4 saphires, and gowns with gold all over them. <a style=\"color: #ffffff\" href=\"http:\/\/www.archive.org\/stream\/scriptoreshistor02camb#page\/364\/mode\/2up\">A link to this text so that you can read it for yourself is here.<\/a> If you are doing Latin, take a look at how these words are translated.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\"> What emerges is a young girl at puberty or at the approach to puberty receiving gifts that would mark her out as distinct from other girls \u2013 she was betrothed and the gifts symbolized the future relationship of marriage with her husband. The <em>sponsa<\/em> was marked out as still a virgin, but had entered a liminal stage in which she was neither a child nor a married woman.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\"><strong>Creperia Tryphena<br \/>\n<\/strong>A sarcophagus was discovered during the construction of the foundations for the the Palace of Justice, not far from the Vatican, in Rome over 100 years ago. The name of the dead person was inscribed on the sarcophagus: Creperia Tryphena; but inside was not just a body but also a whole series of items: amber pendants, a myrtle crown, combs, a ring with clasped hands and the male name Filetus, a hair net, a necklace and also a doll. What all this indicates is that Creperia Tryphena died at a time in her life when she was engaged to Filetus with her doll indicating that she was still a child. It is notable that Persius informs us that dolls were dedicated by girls on their wedding day in the shrine of the Lares in their parents\u2019 house.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\"><a style=\"color: #ffffff\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/files\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-29-at-4.05.02-PM.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-184\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-184\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/files\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-29-at-4.05.02-PM-167x300.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2016-01-29 at 4.05.02 PM\" width=\"167\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/files\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-29-at-4.05.02-PM-167x300.png 167w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/files\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-29-at-4.05.02-PM-768x1381.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/files\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-29-at-4.05.02-PM-570x1024.png 570w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/files\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-29-at-4.05.02-PM-660x1187.png 660w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/files\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-29-at-4.05.02-PM.png 812w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 167px) 100vw, 167px\" \/><\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\"> Creperia\u2019s Grave Goods<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\"><strong>Exercise: Using Legal Sources for Social History: Betrothal<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\"> All the evidence for this comes from the Digest of Roman Law compiled by Justinian. You can review the evidence for yourself in this link to the <em>Digest of Justinian<\/em> 23.1. To do this, you need to use <a style=\"color: #ffffff\" href=\"http:\/\/droitromain.upmf-grenoble.fr\/\">the link here to access an on-line library of Roman Law<\/a> with the following instructions to locate the passage you want:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\"> 1) on left hand menus click on \u201918 Lingua Anglica\u2019 takes you to next page;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\"> 2) scroll down to \u2018533 The Digest or Pandects of Justinian\u2019 click on word Scott takes you to the next page;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\"> 3) click on Book 23<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\"> What you now have before you are a series of passages on betrothal quoted from earlier legal writings, but these give us all the information we needed for the film. Questions to think about whilst reading these texts:-<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\"> A) Can you identify the passages that provide us with information on ages of marriage and age of betrothal?<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\"> B) Who gave their consent to a betrothal?<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\"> C) How was a betrothal ended?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">If you are curious about the nature of marriage and how it was legally defined by Roman lawyers, keep reading it is in section 2 of Book 23. However, before you leave this webpage, take a look at the arrangements for paying the dowry to girl\u2019s family in section 3 \u2013 we may return to this question in a future blog. But it is worth remembering that part of the dowry is paid during the period of betrothal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\"><strong>Exercise: Augustus and the Law on Marriage<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\"> The emperor Augustus discovered that many men would become betrothed to very young girls, so that they might void penalties associated with being unmarried. In consequence, he tightened things up to ensure betrothals did not last for years and insisted that betrothal should not last for more than two years \u2013 perhaps causing the youngest age of a girl to be betrothed to have been ten years. Examine the passage <a style=\"color: #ffffff\" href=\"http:\/\/penelope.uchicago.edu\/Thayer\/E\/Roman\/Texts\/Cassius_Dio\/54*.html\">from Cassius Dio\u2019s <em>History of Rome <\/em>book 54<\/a> \u2013 you need to scroll down to section 16. The matter of prizes for being married is discussed in the link on the page that takes you to a definition of the Augustan Marriage Laws that were enacted to incentivize marriage amongst the Roman upper-classes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\"><strong>What about the teenager betrothed to a young girl?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">The young adult, <em>sponsus<\/em> &#8211; often under the age of twenty-five, was prevented by the <a style=\"color: #ffffff\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lex_Plaetoria\"><em>Lex Plaetoria<\/em><\/a> from making firm business agreements prior to the age of twenty-five years (Cassius Dio 52.20). This was not a problem for sons subject to the power of their father, since the agreement over the dowry could be negotiated by the two <em>patres familias. <\/em>For sons, whose fathers\u2019 had died, a tutor or guardian would have been involved in the ratification of the negotiation \u2013 if still a child. Yet within the arrangement of betrothal, financial agreements were to be made with his future father-in-law over the payment of the dowry associated with marriage of that man\u2019s daughter. Take a look at the evidence from a fictional speech in 27 BC with regard to what age a person might hold a magistracy in Augustus\u2019 \u2018restored republic\u2019. <a style=\"color: #ffffff\" href=\"http:\/\/penelope.uchicago.edu\/Thayer\/E\/Roman\/Texts\/Cassius_Dio\/52*.html\">On this link you need to scroll down to section 20 \u2013 numbers are in red<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\"><strong>Exercise: finding Latin Tombstones of the Betrothed<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\"> There are some inscriptions set up on tombstones to betrothed girls, <a style=\"color: #ffffff\" href=\"http:\/\/db.edcs.eu\/epigr\/epi_en.php\">you can use this webpage to search<\/a> for the word <em>sponsa<\/em> to discover where these tombstones were found in the Roman Empire and, if you have some Latin, have a go at translating the inscriptions. You could also search for the male betrothed using the word <em>sponsus. <\/em>If you search for both <em>sponsa <\/em>and <em>sponsus \u2013<\/em> you will find an inscription set up by a <em>sponsus <\/em>to his dead <em>sponsa <\/em>\u2013 a betrothal that never led to a marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\"><strong>The Betrothal of Cicero\u2019s Daughter to Crassipes in 56 BC<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">The relationship between the two families created through the betrothal and expectation of marriage can be seen in through the linkages created by Cicero with this young man.\u00a0\u00a0 Cicero threw the party two days after his daughter\u2019s betrothal to Crassipes on 4 April 56 BC (Cicero <em>Letters to Quintus<\/em> 2.6.2). The party or <em>sponsalia<\/em> was a public occasion and one of the duties of a after the <em>sponsalia <\/em>on 6 April 56 BC, we find Crassipes and Cicero dining together again. Crassipes and Cicero would have been in their twenties and fifties respectively following the betrothal and marriage of Tullia, and we might suggest that the age difference may have caused a greater distance between the two men. The purpose of the <em>sponsalia<\/em> and subsequent dinner would seem to have been a form of male bonding, which made the relationship between the two men closer. For the future son-in-law, this may have been an intimidating experience conducted in public to display their new bond. Crassipes was Tullia\u2019s second husband and we do not find in the evidence that we have anything like Cicero\u2019s later expression of enthusiasm for her first husband Gaius Piso Frugi some ten years earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">The strength of the relationship between a son-in-law and a father-in-law ran alongside the continuing bond between a daughter and her father. Just as fathers were expected to control their daughters, they were expected to hold sway over their sons-in-law \u2013 a feature of marriage that did not always occur (Cicero <em>Letters to Friends <\/em>3.10, <em>Letters to Atticus<\/em>5.6). Crassipes and Cicero were creating a bond during the period of betrothal in 56 BC that it was hoped would last through the marriage. In connection with this factor, we should note that Tullia\u2019s previous husband, Calpurnius Piso Frugi, had been one of the group of key players behind Cicero\u2019s recall from exile in the previous year, alongside: his brother-in-law \u2013 Atticus, his wife \u2013 Terentia, and his brother Quintus (Cicero <em>Pro Sestio <\/em>54, <em>De Domo sua.<\/em>59). The social relationship between father-in-law and sons-in-law is played out in Cicero\u2019s treatises <em>On the Republic <\/em>(<em>De Republica<\/em>) and <em>on Friendship <\/em>(<em>De Amicitia<\/em>)<em>, <\/em>the sons-in-law of Laelius are attentive to the older man\u2019s words regarding their social and political world of the later second century B.C.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\"><strong>Bibliography<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Harlow, Mary and Laurence, Ray: <a style=\"color: #ffffff\" href=\"https:\/\/books.google.it\/books?id=BlFKK4cbehcC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=growing+up+and+growing+old+in+ancient+rome&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwj3juK067PKAhUFuw4KHSQYCaAQ6AEIKzAA#v=onepage&amp;q=betrothal&amp;f=false\"><em>Growing Up and Growing Old in Ancient Rom<\/em><\/a><em>e, <\/em>Routledge 2002 \u2013 this link takes you to the book \u2013 check out page 58, where we discuss betrothal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Harlow, Mary and Laurence, Ray: <strong>\u2018Betrothal, Middle Childhood and the Life Course\u2019<\/strong>, in L. Larrson-Lov\u00e9n and A. Str\u00f6mberg (eds) <em>Ancient Marriage in Myth and Reality, <\/em>CSP: Newcastle, pp.56-77 \u2013 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Harlow, Mary and Laurence, Ray: \u2018<strong>De Amicitia: The Role of Age\u2019<\/strong>, in <em>Passages from Antiquity to the Middle Ages III: De Amicitia, Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae<\/em> 36, pp.21-32 \u2013 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Treggiari, Susan: <em>Terentia, Tullia and Publilia, <\/em>Routledge, 2007.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"kent-social-links\"><li><a href='http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/2016\/02\/13\/betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome\/&amp;t=Betrothal and Childhood in Ancient Rome' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-facebook' title='Share via Facebook'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=Betrothal and Childhood in Ancient Rome%20https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/2016\/02\/13\/betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-twitter' title='Share via Twitter'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/share?url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/2016\/02\/13\/betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-google-plus' title='Share via Google Plus'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/2016\/02\/13\/betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome\/&amp;title=Betrothal and Childhood in Ancient Rome' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-linkedin' title='Share via Linked In'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='mailto:content=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/2016\/02\/13\/betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome\/&amp;title=Betrothal and Childhood in Ancient Rome' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-email' title='Share via Email'><\/i><\/a><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Let me be read by a girl who warms to her betrothed\u2019 (Ovid Amores 2.1.5). The Lucius films have a&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/2016\/02\/13\/betrothal-and-childhood-in-ancient-rome\/\">Read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Betrothal and Childhood in Ancient Rome<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40877,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[152656,152666],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40877"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions\/185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/lucius-romans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}