The Past And The Present Of Arranged Marriage In Ancient Rome

Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, the god of war. Left to drown in a basket on the Tiber by a king of nearby Alba Longa and rescued by a she-wolf, the twins lived to defeat that king and found their own city on the river’s banks in 753 B.C. After killing his brother, Romulus became the first king of Rome, which is named for him. (History.com Editors. “Ancient Rome.” History.com) The beginning of the roman empire starts with the Trojan hero who escaped from the destroyed city of his city after the Trojan war. Romulus became the first king of the new founding of Rome in 753 B.C.

Marriage in ancient Rome was considered to be a duty which main aim was to provide new citizens. Affection between two young people did not bond their relationship. Fathers’ political estimates, hopes to get rich or to upgrade their social status were the only things that mattered. (Marriage and love life in ancient Rome ' IMPERIUM ROMANUM”)

In the time of Rome, marriages were not always romantic or loving of each other with time. Two families would gather together and meet and would arrange a marriage for their children. It would never be the choice of the children to choose on who they would fall in love or who they would get married with. Men will usually get married in their mid-twenties, for a woman she is most likely to get married in their early teens. Parents would go around talking to other families to make connection in order to grow their wealth status by having their child arranged with a wealthier family. During a Roman marriage the bride and the groom cannot get marriage unless they are both Roman citizens. In order to get married a special permission must be made called “conubium”, which was a law for the Roman citizens stating they could only have one spouse.

At one point in Roman history, freed slaves had been forbidden to marry citizens. This restriction was relaxed by Emperor Augustus who passed a reform in 18 BC called the lex Julia so that, by the first century, freed slaves were only prohibited from marrying senators. There was a point in time were freed slaves were not allowed to marry Roman citizens. (“The Roman Empire: in the First Century. The Roman Empire. Life In Roman Times. Weddings, Marriages & Divorce.”)

Reflecting to the present day, our world has evolved and many of the ancient practices are still being used. Many have gone past the Roman tradition where, you would need to be arranged to get married. Many of today marriages would are not forced, it’s an agreement between the bride and the groom and they would go on and get married and live together. Many third world countries do still have arranged marriages taken in place and have the same similarities between the Roman tradition and their tradition. Another difference would child marriages, especially women they’re more of the victims of getting being for marriage. In the present day, child marriage is shown or practice much in big nations. In countries like Indian and Bangladesh a lot of child or marriages are still practiced.

Although the causes and consequences of child marriage have received much attention in earlier studies in Bangladesh, regional variation in child marriage in Bangladesh has received little or no attention. (Islam 695) According to Islam, child marriage in Bangladesh do not have the enough attention for people to take course of action against the law. (Islam 695)

In general, young women are more prone to becoming victims of forced marriage than young men. Where forced marriage occurs, it tends to be a practice that has occurred as a result of a host of different socioeconomic and cultural factors. Societal pressure, poverty, illiteracy, and family status can all be contributing factors for forced marriages. (“Forced Marriage.”) Young women are the ones who suffer the most when getting into a force marriage. There are reasons that these young women decide to get married, it is because of the Societal pressure, poverty, illiteracy, and family status of the women’s life. Depending on the background of the young women these are reasons why women general force themselves into marriages. (“Forced Marriage.”)

Roman divorce was as simple as marriage. Just as marriage was only a declaration of intent to live together, divorce was just a declaration of a couple’s intent not to live together. All that the law required was that they declare their wish to divorce before seven witnesses. (“The Roman Empire: in the First Century. The Roman Empire. Life In Roman Times. Weddings, Marriages & Divorce.”) According to the source, back in ancient Roman divorce was simple much alike as in the present day. Much like in the present day divorce, both parties would agree not to live with each other anymore.

The fact that Roman legal acts did not regulate the conclusion of marriage does not mean that the law was indifferent to marriage. The existence or non-existence of a marriage was indirectly significant for Roman law when it had to deal with problems involving succession or responsibility for civil wrongs. But in dealing with such matters Roman law accepted as a marriage whatever was customarily recognized as such (38). on the other hand, the public element of Roman citizen’s legal capacity was manifested by marriage. When a person became captivated, first of all his relations with the state were broken, but at the same time his marriage was considered to be terminated. For instance, children born to two captivated spouses were not held to be born in the legal wedlock. (39) (Jonaitis, Marius, and Elena Kosaite-cypiene 302)

According to the source, the Romans did not define the adults of having children and being with a partner that would define them to be married in written consent. Both parties would need to get need to get married in order to have legal documentation of their future born child.