My image of the Roman Empire is negative. In Rome, love had nothing to do with marriage. Children were produced solely to be heirs to the father's property. For example, fourteen was the normal age for a women to marry but can be engaged at a low age of seven which makes people less likely to commit to a relationship. It seems that marriages and concubines were abused by both men and women during the time. Also, terms for divorce were not uniform throughout the empire. In the western empire, it was nearly impossible for women to get out of an unhappy marriage unless the husband agreed or was a murderer. In addition, Constantine's legislation imposed greater penalties on women than men. Discrimination against those born outside a legitimate marriage also reinforces the negative image on the Roman Empire because it really isn't one's fault that they were born outside a legitimate marriage. Also, while a concubine between slaves was possible with the permission of the slave owner, the only motive for a slave owner to allow "marriage" is to add the slaves's offspring into the workforce. Overall, marriage in the Roman Empire did not forge strong bonds between people and may have undermined the empire as well.
The idea of needing to forge common bonds among people for an empire to be successful is an interesting one! Worth thinking about...Would you be able to apply your views on the importance of marriage as an underpinning of society to today's world? How would you view the present disagreement about gay marriage? Is it something that is creating or sundering more common bonds in America?
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