~Ancient Greek Marriage~

Just a few facts about this culture's marriage!

The ancient Greeks thought that Cecrops, one of the early kings of Athens who was not entirely human, was responsible for civilizing mankind and establishing monogamous marriage. Men were still free to establish relations with courtesans and prostitutes, but with the institution of matrimony, lines of heredity could be established, and marriage recognized who was in charge of the women. Marriage in ancient Greece was a major part of a person’s life. Available choices for marriage patterns were not so simple. Since citizenship was passed to one’s offspring, there were limits to whom a citizen might marry. With the enactment of Pericles’ citizenship laws, resident aliens, metics, were suddenly taboo (a ban or an inhibition resulting from social custom or emotional aversion). As in the Oedipus story, mothers were taboo, as were full sisters, but uncles might marry nieces and brothers, and their half-sisters primarily to keep the family property with the family. This is interesting because in our world today, obtaining property is not something of extreme importance. The weddings of ancient Greeks were very traditional and they relatively followed the same pattern. They were very vital in a person’s life, especially the bride-to-be. Marriage to this culture symbolized love, mutual respect, equality, and sacrifice. . The wedding consisted of three parts. The first part was the pre-wedding ceremony, following was the actual wedding itself, and the conclusion was the post-wedding ceremonies. These three parts of the wedding were done one day at a time, so essentially a wedding took three days. In ancient Greece, there usually was a certain time when couples decided to marry. Greeks married during the winter. However, various superstitions say that Greeks were married during the time of a full moon. A common month in which couples married was the month Gamelion (January) which is sacred to the Hera and means “the wedding month.” The average age difference between husband and wife was fifteen years. The day after the wedding was the day of the banquet. This was held at the groom’s home. The banquet was just like a modern day reception with food, music, cake, and dancing. The dances that people danced to were the Kalamatianos which was a popular dance that required the use of handkerchieves. Kotsaris was the next danced perfomed which was when people danced on the tips of their toes in trance-provoking rhythms. Following the Kotsaris, was the Pendozali – the last dance performed. This was a fast, “dance of five steps”, usually performed by a large group of men.

I hope this gave all a better understanding of what ancient Greek weddings and marriages were like. The concept of marriage was very important to Ancient Greece, as it should be in all cultures.