[فداء الرسول]

Age of Marriage in Rome



According to About.com:


In Ancient Rome…young girls were often married off when they were between
the ages of twelve and fourteen.


(About.com, http://marriage.about.com/cs/teenmar...enmarriage.htm)


In the book entitled The Age of Marriage in Ancient Rome, we read:


Traditionally in pre-modern societies, AAFM [age at first marriage] for girls
corresponded with the visible onset of puberty. In these early societies, high
mortality rates demanded an offsetting high-birth rate. As a result, younger
marriages were required to facilitate population growth.


(The Age of Marriage in Ancient Rome,


http://osdir.com/ml/education.public...l-review/2006-
05/msg00028.html)


In a scholarly article about the Roman Empire, we read that marriage would oftentimes
precede the onset of puberty:


Durry (1955a/b/c, 1956)[48] had argued that Roman girls were married before
puberty, that puberty was not important in fixing the age of marriage, and that
such early marriages were consummated before puberty…
Taking into consideration epigraphic and literary material, Hopkins concludes
that "[w]hether pre-pubertal or not, girl's age at marriage was by our
standards very young and marriages were generally immediately
consummated" …


At least one author believed that a girl "should be married and deflowered as soon
as she reaches puberty (i.e., the socially determined age of puberty)… "

Psychohistorians[66] cite Rouselle (1988:p33) in arguing that Roman
misconceptions about the hymen "could only be the result of girls being
deflowered before puberty", being lawfully married before puberty.
(Janssen, D.F.; Oct 2002. G.U.S.. Volume I: World Reference Atlas. Interim
Report. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, http://www2.huberlin.
de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/GUS/HISTORYCHHS.HTM#_Toc26337
172)


In the article “The Age of Roman Girls at Marriage”, we read:


In fact menarche (onset of menses) was not always a pre-condition of marriage;


nevertheless marriages were usually consummated immediately…they (prepubertal
marriages) were not exceptional and were condoned.
(The Age of Roman Girls at Marriage, http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0032-
4728%28196503%2918%3A3%3C309%3ATAORGA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-
Q&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage)
The age of seven was in vogue:


Around AD 530, and at least as far back as the reign of Augustus, the legal
minimum age of marriage for girls was 12 and for boys 14 (Hopkins,
p313n22)…At least for the aristocracy, early ages are frequently mentioned.
Betrothal could take place within a poorly defined period before this age; at least
it must be assumed that a minimum legal age of seven was in vogue
(p313n23)[49] … Plutarche (historian, philosopher), and Soranus (doctor,
practising at Rome), both Greeks, implied that early marriage (12 or before) and
defloration would occur…
(Janssen, D.F.; Oct 2002. G.U.S.. Volume I: World Reference Atlas. Interim
Report. Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
http://www2.huberlin.

de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/GUS/HISTORYCHHS.HTM#_Toc26337
172)


The great Roman leader Augustus fixed the minimum age of marriage at ten years old:


Roman children of the aristocracy married youngest (Hopkins, 1965:316ff;
1983[57]:p94; Weaver, 1986:p156)[58]. Roman marriage arrangements usually
began with a betrothal, which was possible before age ten[59], at least in the case
of the aristocracy, or when political gains were in vogue (Balsdon, p87,
275n18)[60]. Augustus (AD 9) had fixed the minimum age at ten (Rawson,
1986:p21)[61]…


(Janssen, D.F.; Oct 2002. G.U.S.. Volume I: World Reference Atlas. Interim
Report. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, http://www2.huberlin.
de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/GUS/HISTORYCHHS.HTM#_Toc26337
172)

Signature of فداء الرسول

تحمَّلتُ وحديَ مـا لا أُطيـقْ من الإغترابِ وهَـمِّ الطريـقْ اللهم اني اسالك في هذه الساعة ان كانت جوليان في سرور فزدها في سرورها ومن نعيمك عليها . وان كانت جوليان في عذاب فنجها من عذابك وانت الغني الحميد برحمتك يا ارحم الراحمين