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Sulla, Marble bust,
2nd c BC. Glyptothek Museum, Munich, Germany.
Sulla was a powerful and feared Roman leader. As "dictator," he tried to force
Julius Caesar to divorce his wife. He did not like her father's political
positions.
Highlights
*
Divorce
for most of Roman history was a private matter. It did not involve either
religion or the state.
*
Both the wife and the husband could initiate a divorce, either verbally or in
writing.
*
The wife's dowry had to be returned to her family upon divorce. It supplied the
resources for her remarriage. Any children remained with their father,
the husband.
*
Why Romans might divorce: high politics, the wife's failure to
produce children, or lust for a different mate.
* Under Emperor Augustus,
who ruled about the time of Jesus Christ, laws restricting personal
freedom became draconian.
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Divorce in Ancient Rome
Divorce and remarriage in ancient
Rome--easily possible for most of Rome's history. A more advantageous second (or third or fourth) marriage on
the horizon? Out with the current spouse, in with the new one. Roman Politics and Divorce: Julius Caesar
Divorce often happened for political reasons. It might even be commanded. Sulla,
the fearsome Roman dictator of the 2nd century BC, ordered Caesar to
cast aside Cornelia,
Caesar's
first
wife. Why?--because Cornelia's father was Sulla's
bitter political opponent. But Caesar said no, and lived.
Caesar's survival took the intervention of his mother, Aurelia.
Sulla exacted his revenge. Spurned and angry, Sulla
seized Cornelia's dowry and other property. Caesar and his family became
impoverished.Roman Religion and Divorce
Religion could drive a divorce. Pompeia, Caesar's
second wife, was divorced for polluting a religious ritual. She
had an aristocratic lover, the odious Clodius. She snuck
him into a female-only religious ceremony presided over by the Vestal
Virgins. Into Caesar's own house as the Pontifex Maximus, no less.
And what
of Clodius? He was put on trial for sacrilege--and acquitted.
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Though marriage was honorable, it was not sacred. It was
not "holy" matrimony in the Christian sense.
In perfect alignment with Roman values, divorce
until the time of the Emperor Augustus was managed within the
family. Religious institutions or the state were not involved.
Divorce could simply be commanded by the head of the family of either husband
or wife.
To divorce, one party simply notified the other,
either verbally or in writing.
Divorce still had important
consequences. Marriage was a contract involving property and
expectations of inheritance, which divorce disrupted.
Under Emperor Augustus,
husbands elevated to the Senate had to have their wives' lineage
scrutinized. If the husband had married "beneath his class," he must
divorce and remarry. If a husband caught his wife in the act of
adultery, he not only had to divorce her, he had to prosecute her within
sixty days. If he did not, the husband could be prosecuted as well.
Divorced women were further penalized if they did not remarry within two
years. |
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The downside of divorce
The husband
Upon divorce,
the husband forked
over the wife's original dowry per the marriage contract. Even if he had to
borrow money to do so. This allowed her family the means to
arrange her next marriage.
The wife
The wife had to return to her
father or guardian,
leaving behind any children from the marriage. In Roman society, the male had complete
power over and responsibility for his children.
For a Roman mother, was losing one's children a deterrent to
divorce? Perhaps, perhaps not.
The children
Children of divorced parents stayed with their father. Often there was
rivalry for property and power between them and any new children by
their father's next wife.
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You may contact me, Nancy Padgett, at
NJPadgett@gmail.com
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