The Woman in the Roman Society. Unit 10. Marriage the social practice: some bizarre and special cases

1. Marriage
the social practice: some bizarre
and special cases

2. A Roman soldier
marries and divorces
BGU iii 729, Alexandria 3-13.10.144:
T Dionisios son of Deious the ex-strateg of the city, neokoros of the great Sarapis,
o
archidikastes of these priests who receive alimonies in the Museum as well as
overseer of chrematistai and people exempted from tax.
From Pertronia Sarapias being assisted by a kyrios, her brother Caius Petronius
Marcellus and from Caius Iulius Apolinarios soldier of the first maniple Apamaeian of the
century of Iulianus. Caius Iulius Apolinarios declares jointly (sunchorei) to have taken
from Petronia daugher of Sarapias to deposit and guaranteed against risk female
clothing of the joint value of three hundred silver drachms and golden ornaments valued
to thirty-two tetartai, that he will guard and he will return to her when she demands
immediately in accordance of the law of deposits. Petronia Sarapias is getting a right of
execution on all the belongings of Caius Iulius Apolinarios as if it the case had already
been tried. In the eighth year of Caesar Titius Aeliius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus
Pius, Phaophi 6 (?).

3. A Roman soldier
marries and divorces
P. Lond. ii 178 (?, 5.04.145). P.Lond. II, Plate 52; Pal. Soc. Mss., 2nd Ser., Vol. I, II. 149 (linker
Text)
Petronia Sarapias assisted by a kyrios, her brother Caius Petronius Marcellus to Caius Iulius
Apolinarios soldier of the first kohort ‘Apamaeian’ of the century of Iulianus, a greeting.
I assent (homologo) to have received from you four hundred drachms of silver according to the
public standard which I brought you as a dowry, from your own hands retaining the right to the
remaining six hundred drachms. The document was written in a double copy without additions
and cancellations and be it lawful as if it were deposited in a public registry. In the eighth year
of Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, Pharmouthi 10.
I, Petronia Sarapias assisted by a kyrios, her brother Caius Petronius Marcellus am getting back
four hundred silver drachms in the name of my dowry, retaining the right to six hundred
drachms as above.
I Gaius Petronius Marcellus have been appointed kyrios of the same, and have signed for her as
she is illiterate

4. What does the law say?
BGU I 114= P. Catt. recto I 5-13 (ca. 144 Antinoopolis or Alexandria):
a collection of prejudicial decision concerning soldiers:
In the year 20 of Divine Hadrian (AD 117), the 20th day of the
month Tybi. As Lucia Makrina has sued from the estate of the late
Antonios Germanos, soldier, through Phanios, advocate, for
money deposited (with him), Lupus has said: We know that money
deposited that way are in fact dowries. I do not grant trial on such
pretext, as soldiers are not allowed to marry. if you sue for dowry,
however, I will grant trial, but I will have to be convinced that it was a
legal marriage.

9. Translation of a will. Gaius Longinus Kastor, honourably discharged
veteran of the praetorian fleet of Misenum, has made a will. I order that
Marcella my slave woman, over thirty years of age and Kleopatra my slave
woman, over thirty years of age, become free. Let them each of them be my
heirs in equal shares. Let all the others be disinherited. Let them enter
upon the inheritance, each for her own share, whenever it seems proper to
each to bear witness that she is my heir; it shall not be possible to sell or
mortgage the inheritance. But if the above-written Marcella suffers the lot
of human kind, then I wish her share if the inheritance to devolve to
Sarapion and Sokrates and Longos. Likewise for Kleopatra, I wish her
share to devolve upon Neilos. Let whoever becomes my heir be liable to
give, to do, to provide all these things that have been written in my will, and
I commit them to his/her trust. Let my slave-girl Sarapias, daughter of
Kleopatra my freedwoman, be free, to whom I also give and bequeath:

10. Translation of a will. Gaius Longinus Kastor, honourably discharged
veteran of the praetorian fleet of Misenum, has made a will. I order that
Marcella my slave woman, over thirty years of age and Kleopatra my slave
woman, over thirty years of age, become free. Let them each of them be my
heirs in equal shares. Let all the others be disinherited. Let them enter
upon the inheritance, each for her own share, whenever it seems proper to
each to bear witness that she is my heir; it shall not be possible to sell or
mortgage the inheritance. But if the above-written Marcella suffers the lot
of human kind, then I wish her share if the inheritance to devolve to
Sarapion and Sokrates and Longos. Likewise for Kleopatra, I wish her
share to devolve upon Neilos. Let whoever becomes my heir be liable to
give, to do, to provide all these things that have been written in my will, and
I commit them to his/her trust. Let my slave-girl Sarapias, daughter of
Kleopatra my freedwoman, be free, to whom I also give and bequeath:

11. Translation of a will. Gaius Longinus Kastor, honourably discharged
veteran of the praetorian fleet of Misenum, has made a will. I order that
Marcella my slave woman, over thirty years of age and Kleopatra my slave
woman, over thirty years of age, become free. Let them each of them be my
heirs in equal shares. Let all the others be disinherited. Let them enter
upon the inheritance, each for her own share, whenever it seems proper to
each to bear witness that she is my heir; it shall not be possible to sell or
mortgage the inheritance. But if the above-written Marcella suffers the lot
of human kind, then I wish her share if the inheritance to devolve to
Sarapion and Sokrates and Longos. Likewise for Kleopatra, I wish her
share to devolve upon Neilos. Let whoever becomes my heir be liable to
give, to do, to provide all these things that have been written in my will, and
I commit them to his/her trust. Let my slave-girl Sarapias, daughter of
Kleopatra my freedwoman, be free, to whom I also give and bequeath:

12. five arouras of grainland which I hold in the
vicinity of the village Karanis in the place called
‘Ostrich’; likewise one a quarter arouras of
wadi-land; likewise, a third share of my house
and a third share of the same house which I
earlier bought from Prapetheus son of Thaseus
(mother); likewise a third share of a palm-
groove which I hold very close to the canal
called ‘Old Canal’. I wish my body to be carried
out and wrapped by this care and piety of my
heirs. If I leave anything in writing after this,
written in my own hand, in any way whatsoever, I
wish this to be valid. Let evil malice be absent
from this will

13. The household and property of the will just made were bought by Julius
Petronianus for one sesterius coin, the scale-holder holder being Gaius
Lucretius Saturnilus. (He acknowledged). He (the testator) has called as
witness Marcus Sempronius Heraklianus (He acknowledged). The will was made
in the village of Karanis in the Arsinoite nome on the 15th day before the Kalends
of November in the consulship of the two Silani, in the 30th year of Augustus
Armeniacus Medicus Parthicus Sarmaticus Germanicus, Hathyr 21 (17.10.189). If
any further writings I leave behind written in my own hand, I wish these to be
valid. Opened and read in the Arsinoite metropolis in the Augustean Forum in
the office of the five percent tax on inheritances and manumissions on the 9th
day before Kalends of March in the consulship of the present consuls, in the
2nd year of Emperor Caesar Lucius Septimus Severus Pertinax
Augustus,Mecheir 27 (21 Feb. 194) the Remaining sealers: Gaius Longinus Akylas
(acknowledged); Julius Volusius, Markus Antistius Pettronianus; Julius
Gemellus, veteran. BGU 326 (A.D. 189-194) (= Rowlandson 139)

14. Translation of the codicil: I, Gaius Longinus Kastor, honourably
discharged veteran of the praetorian fleet of Misenum, have made
codicils. Marcus Sempronis Heraclianos, a faithful friend and a man of
worthy repute I have made trustee on his own good faith. T my
o
kinsman, Julus Serenus, I give and bequeath 4000 sestertius coins,. I
have written this in my own hand on the 7th day before the Ides of
February (7.02). Longinus Akylas and Valerius Priscus have sealed
them. Sealers: G. Longinus Akylas (aknowledged) Julius Philoxenos
(aknowledged) Gaius Lucertius Saturnilus (aknowledged) Gaius
Longinus Kastor; Julius Gemellus, veteran. Opened and read on the
same day on which the will was unsealed.
(2nd hand) I Gaius Lucius Germaninus, expert in Roman Law, translated
the above copy and it is in conformity with the original will. On the verso:
Of Caius Longinus Castor

15. Kleopatra ∞ KASTOR ∞ Marcella
Sarapias Neilos
Sarapion Sokrates Longos
The Supposed Family T of Kronion
ree

16. Grenfell & Hunt’s Excavations

17. Oxyrhynchos Today

18. “The incestuous twins”
T Dios and Apollonios scribes of the
o
metropolis from Sabinos son of Ptolemios
grandson of Herakl... mother Eudaimonis
and my wife Thermion, being my twin sister
by the same mother and father, with her
guardian, me Sabinos, both those from
metropolis registered in the quarter of the
Gymansion. we register...

19. The Family of Kronion
P. Kron. 52

20. A copy of a divorce document: A copy of an agreement. In
the 2nd year of Caesar Antoninus Lord, in the month of
August, the second day, in Tebtynis of the Polemon meris of
the Arsinoaite nome.
Kronion son of Kronion aged fifty four with a scar on his left
arm
and his ex-wife, who is also his sister of the same father and
of the same mother, Taorsenouphis, aged fifty, unblemished,
assisted by a kyrios, the father of both of them, Kronios
son of Cheos, aged 76, with a scar on his right hand
have agreed (as follows)

21. to have dissolved their joint-life which had existed between
them without a written contract
to allow to each of them to administer his/her own goods
the way he or she chooses
to allow Taorsenouphis to live with another man in every
possible way without risking of being denounced
as far as the dowry in jewellery in value of one mnaieion
and ten tetartai of gold and twenty-eight staters of silver
in weight is concerned both of the above-mentioned
declare that Kronion had taken it from his sister
Taorsenouphis and joined it to his belongings

22. that he shall return it (the dowry) in the same
jewellery without protest to his sister Taorsenouphis
within the sixty following days counted from the
present day;
Taorsenouphis having the right of execution against
her brother Kronion on all his belongings;

23. as far as all the things regarding their marriage are
concerned not to be able to proceed against one
another on whatever ground.
and that Kronion shall not be able to sue
Taorsenouphis either in regards to what she has
bought because she has paid these things out of her
own money, or in regards of any other matter written
or unwritten until this very day.
And sons Sasopis and Pakebkis and a daughter
Tephorsais have been born to them.

24. P. Kron. 50, Tebynis 13.07.138
In the twenty-second year of Emperor Caesar Traianus Hadrianus
Augustus, Pauni 19, in Tebtynis, of the Polemon’s meris of the Arsinoite
nome. Kronion son of Cheos, grandson of Harmiysis, his mother being
Taorsenouphis, from the village of Tebtynis, aged seventy-five, with a
scar on the right hand declares that he transfers after his death to his
children, Harmiysis and Harpaesis born to him by his late wife
Thenapynchis, daughter di Patynis, and to Tephorsais, the minor
daughter of other children of the same Kronion, Kronion and
Taorsenouphis, all of them three heirs in equal shares, all that the
father Kronion leaves of his property, i.e. of movables and goods of
the house and other things and also all what is owed to him by any title.

25. As far as the other children of the same Kronion, Kronion and
Taorsenouphis and Thephorsais: to Kronion he bequeaths only forty
silver drachms because he – as the Kronion father says – has suffered
many times injustice from him in his life;
to the two daughters, Taorsenouphis and Thephorsais, apart from the
ornaments of golden and silver jewellery and of clothing that he ascertains
to have given to them, (he declares) to give to each of them …. silver
drachms. The three heirs shall be encumbered by the costs of the funeral
of the declaring Kronion as well with the payments of all the bequeaths,
public duties and private debts which he seems to owe. Kronion declares
that in the time until he lives he will have the complete authority to manage
his goods as he wants. Hypographeus: Onnophris son of Th..xosis, ages
sixty-two, with a scar on his forehead witnesses (5 names follow) are six
witnesses this transfer of property.

26. Thaesis ∞ Harmiysis I Mesoeris
Cheos ∞ Taorsenouphis Patynis
Kronion ∞ Thenapynchis (* 69 + 138)
Tephorsais I ∞ Harphaesis Kronion II ∞ Taorsenouphis Harmiysis II
(* 105) (* ca 88-89) (* ca 84-85) (* ca 88-89)
Mesoeris (?) Tephorsais II Pakebkis Sasopis
(all born around 111)

27. Roman
Conquest
&
Gnomon of the Idios Logos

28. Gnomon § 23
It is not permitted to Romans to marry their sisters
or their aunts; it is permitted in the case of the
daughter of brothers. [The idiologus] Pardalas,
however, confiscated the property when brothers
and sisters married.

29. Nero’s
atrocities

30. Same-sex unions?
Tacitus, Annals, 15.37.4: Nero, to win credit for himself of enjoying nothing so much as the capital,
prepared banquets in the public places, and used the whole city, so to say, as his private house.
Of these entertainments the most famous for their notorious profligacy were those furnished by
Tigellinus, which I will describe as an illustration, that I may not have again and again to narrate
similar extravagance. He had a raft constructed on Agrippa's lake, put the guests on board and
set it in motion by other vessels towing it. These vessels glittered with gold and ivory; the crews
were arranged according to age and experience in vice. Birds and beasts had been procured from
remote countries, and sea monsters from the ocean. On the margin of the lake were set up
brothels crowded with noble ladies, and on the opposite bank were seen naked prostitutes with
obscene gestures and movements. As darkness approached, all the adjacent grove and
surrounding buildings resounded with song, and shone brilliantly with lights. Nero, who polluted
himself by every lawful or lawless indulgence, had not omitted a single abomination which could
heighten his depravity, till a few days afterwards he stooped to marry himself to one of that filthy
herd, by name Pythagoras, with all the forms of regular wedlock. The bridal veil was put over the
emperor; people saw the witnesses of the ceremony, the wedding dower, the couch and the nuptial
torches; everything in a word was plainly visible, which, even when a woman weds darkness hides.

31. Two Helenas...
Fonteia G(aiae) l(iberta) Eleusis h(uic?) olla data Fonteia G(aiae) l(iberta) Helena

32. two women consult a
sorceress; from the so-
called “villa of Cicero” in
Pompeii; signed by
Dioskurides of Samos;
Roman, first century CE
Naples, National
Archaeological Museum.
Credits: Barbara McManus,

33. Magical Papyrus
Supplementum Magicum 1.42
Fundament of the gloomy darkness, jagged-toothed dog, covered with coiling
snakes, turning three heads, traveller in the recess of the Underworld, come
spirit-diver, with the Erinyes, savage with their stinging whips, holy serpents,
maenands, frightful maidens, come to my wroth incantations. Before I
persuade by force this one and you, render him immendiately a fire breathing
daemon. Listen and do everything quickly, in no way opposing me in the
performance of this action; for you are the governors of the Earth. Alalachos
allech Harmachimeneus magimeneus athinembes astazabothos artazabathos
okoum phlom lonchahinanchana thou Azael and Lykael and Beliam and
Belenea and schsochjam somochan sozacham sozocham ouzacham
bauzacham oueddouch. By means of this corpse-daemon inflate the heart the
liver the spirit of Gorgonia, whom Nilogenia bore, with love and affection for
Sophia, whom Isara bore.

34. Magical Papyrus
Supplementum Magicum 1.42
Costrain Gorgonia, whom Nilogenia bore to cast herself into the bathhouse for the sake
of Sophia whom Isara bore; and you become a bath-woman. Burn, set on fire, inflame her
soul, heart, liver with love for Sophia, whom Isara bore. Drive Gorgonia, whom Nilogenia
bore, drive her, torment her body night and day, force her to rush forth from everyplace
and every house, loving Sophia whom Isara bore, she surrendered like a slave giving
herself and all her possessions to her, because this is the will and command of the great
god. Iartana ouousio ipsenthanchonchainchouech aeeioyo iartana ousiausiau
ipsoengeuthadei annoucheo aeeioyo. Blessed lords of the immortals holding the
sceptres of Tartarus and of terrible, fearful Styx and of life-robbing Lethe, the hair of
Cerberus trembles in fear of you, you crack the loud whips of the Erineys, the couch of
Persephone delights you, when you go to the longed bed, whether you be immortal
Sarapis, whom the universe fears, whenter you be Osiris, star of the land of Egypt; your
messenger is the all-wise boy; yours is Anubis, the pious herald of the dead. Come
hither, fulfil my wishes, because I summon you by these secret symbols, achaipo thotho
aier iae ai ia….