<="" font="" color="#000000"> Probus - Roman Emperor : 276-282 A.D. -
Bronze Antoninianus 22mm (2.71 grams) Siscia mint: 278 A.D.
Reference: Possibly Unpublished
IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG, radiate, draped & cuirassed bust right
 CONCORD MILIT, Emperor standing right clasping hand of  Concordia, XXIVI in ex.

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Marriage in ancient Rome had mythical beginnings, starting with the abduction of the Sabine Women . Romulus and his band of male immigrants were rejected conubium, the legal right to intermarriage, from the Sabines. According to Livy, Romulus and his men abducted the Sabine maidens, but promised them an honorable marriage, in which they would enjoy the benefits of property, citizenship, and children. These three benefits seem to define the purpose of marriage in ancient Rome.

The word matrimonium, the root for our own word for marriage, matrimony, defines the institution's main function. Involving the mater (mother), it carries with it the implication of the man taking to woman in marriage to have children. It is the idea conventionally shared by Romans as to the purpose of marriage, which would be to produce legitimate children ; citizens producing new citizens.

Consortium is a word used for the sharing of property, usually used in a technical sense for the property held by heirs, but could also be used in the context of marriage. Such usage was commonly seen in Christian writings. However, the sharing of water and fire (aquae et ignis communiciatio) was symbolically more important. It refers to the sharing of natural resources. Worldly possessions transferred automatically from the wife to the husband in archaic times, whereas the classical marriage kept the wife's property separate.

In order for the union of a man and woman to be legitimate, there needed to be consent legally and morally. Both parties had to be willing and intend to marry, and both needed their fathers' consent. If all other legal conditions were met, a marriage was made.

 Conventions of Roman Marriage

The lives of elite Roman women were essentially determined by their marriages. We are best informed about families with both wealth and political standing, whose largely inherited money would follow both their sons and their daughters. In the earliest periods of Roman history, Manus Marriage meant that a married woman would be subjugated by her husband, but that custom had died out by the 1st century BCE, in favor of Free Marriage which did not grant a husband any rights over his wife or have any changing effect on a woman's status.

Elite young men would usually marry in their mid-twenties, after a year or more of military service and some initial experience attending cases and even pleading in the criminal or civil courts. Their brides, however, would be markedly younger women, between fifteen and twenty years of age. This was in part because the family felt no need to retain the daughter at home in order to give her a full education, and partly from fear that once into the flush of adolescence the girl might throw away her virginity or lose the reputation for chastity, which was a prerequisite for marriage. So betrothal tended to follow as soon as possible after puberty, even when the girl’s physique suggested postponement of consummation in marriage, because she seemed insufficiently developed to carry a healthy pregnancy or survive the high risks of childbirth. The young wife would learn some of the complexities of running a large household by observing her mother, and her training would be supplemented by the slave staff of her new household.

The more prominent her family, the less it was likely that the girl would have much choice in the age, appearance or character of her first husband. Through high status marriages (even imperial ones), women were able to gain associative power from their husbands' prominent positions in society. Women who gained power in this way could even then legitimize the power positions of their sons (such as with Livia and Tiberius) as their symbolic status influenced Roman society.

While upper class girls married very young, there is evidence that lower class women – plebeians , freedwomen etc. – often married in their late teens or early twenties. Women were not seen as likely to marry after thirty. Marriage for them was not about economic or political gain, so it was not as urgent.

In a sense, the lives of all women in antiquity were defined around their expectation and achievement of marriage: first as young girls, then as wives and, if all went well, as mothers. In their later years, it was statistically probable that they would survive their husbands and live as widows . From day to day, on a larger scale, their obligations and opportunities depended on the man or men to whom they were married.

 Patria Potestas

Fathers of legitimate children alone had patria potestas over their children. Patria potestas was the lifelong subjugation of a child to his or her father's will and, to the horror of the Greeks and other outside observers of the time, applied to sons as much as daughters.^{[citation needed]}

A man or woman whose legitimate father was still alive required his consent for marriage. No paternal consent was required for illegitimate children or those whose fathers had died. This gave the father of legitimate children a very substantial say in at least the first marriage of his children. He had no right to prevent a divorce by one of his children. Though a father could deny the right to marriage by refusing a prospective son- or daughter-in-law, he could not legally force his children into marriage.

 Engagement and Ceremony

The nuptiae was often begun with a celebration, combining legal, religious, and social features. It brings the two households together, new property is introduced, and there is the underlying promise of children. The wedding ceremony no doubt included various customs and religious rites, but it cannot be assumed such rituals were static or widespread throughout the centuries.

The typical upperclass wedding in the classical period tended to be a lavish affair. The expense of the wedding was normally the bride's family's responsibility. The day was carefully chosen, with all sorts of religious reasons as to why certain days should be avoided. Gifts were given to family and friends, and sometimes the bride and groom exchanged presents of money before the wedding. On the wedding day, the bride went with a procession to her new home, while the bridegroom went ahead of the bride to receive her. With her, the bride brought a torch lit from her family's hearth, and was offered another torch and water, symbolizing the aquae et ignis communicatio. She was then carried over the threshold by her attendants, not her husband. The words "Ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia" may have been exchanged at this point. The actual consummation of the marriage took place in the bedroom, supposedly in the dark. The day after the wedding, the groom would hold a dinner party at his house, and it was at this time that the bride made an offering to the gods of her new home. All of this was part of publicizing the marriage.

The verbal consent between the bride and groom fulfilled the legal expectations, the sharing of the water and fire and, perhaps, the clasping of their right hands (dextrarum iunctio), the religious, and the actual ceremony and celebration fulfilled the social.

 Dowry

One of the most important aspects of the practical and business-like arrangement of Roman marriage was the dowry. The dowry was a contribution made by the wife’s family to the husband to cover the expenses of the household. It was more customary than compulsory. Ancient papyrus texts show that dowries typically included land and slaves but could also include jewelry , toilet articles (used to make women more attractive, such as mirrors ), and clothing. These items were connected with legacy and if the wife died early in the marriage, the dowry could be returned to her family and buried with her to give a more elaborate burial than was typical for the time, however that was not always the case.^{[citation needed]}

The dowry was also how Roman families maintained their social status relative to each other. It was important to ensure that upon the end of a marriage, the dowry was returned to either the wife or her family. This was done in order to improve her chances of remarriage as well as to maintain the family resources. In ancient Rome, the dowry became the husband’s full legal property. In actuality, however, the purpose of the dowry often affected the husband’s freedom to use the dowry. For example, if the dowry was given to help in the maintenance of the wife, or if a legal provision was made for the wife or her family to reclaim the dowry should the marriage dissolve, the husband was restricted as to how he could make use of the dowry.

The fate of the dowry at the end of a marriage depended on its original source. A dowry of dos recepticia was one in which agreements were made in advance about its disposal. The agreement made beforehand determined how this dowry would be recovered. One of dos profecticia was a dowry given by the father of the bride. This type of dowry could be recovered by the donor or by a divorced daughter if her pater died. A dowry of dos adventicia was given by the daughter herself, though it came from her pater. This dowry usually came in non-traditional forms, for example, in lieu of a debt settlement, instead of being given as a direct charge on the pater’s estate. The wife usually recovered this dowry. However, if she died, the husband retained this dowry.

 Old Age and Marriage

The evidence for rules of age in Augustus’ marriage legislation will be applied to the information we have in regard to the age of menopause in women in classical times , and similarly the age up to which males were considered capable of fathering children. Under the terms of the lex Iulia, unmarried persons, caelibes (unmarried as defined by laws), were incapable of taking either inheritances or legacies. Married persons who had no children, orbi, could take no more than one-half of either inheritances or legacies. Originally, this basic principle seems to have applied only to those of a certain age, namely to men between the ages of 25 and 59 years, and to women of 20 to 49 years of age. Apart from questions of age, others were also exempted from the limitations imposed on the capacity to inherit, namely relatives, cognati, to the sixth (and in certain cases to the seventh) degree, as well as those in the manus or potestas of such relatives. Under the Augustan legislation a husband and wife could enjoy complete capacity to inherit if, apart from the rules of age, they were otherwise related to within the sixth degree, or the husband was absent for a certain period of time (a temporary privilege), or the couple had a living communis child or a certain number of children who had survived to certain ages, or they had otherwise been granted the ius liberorum. If the married couple could not claim under any of these conditions, then they were normally capable of taking only one-tenth of the estate of the other.

 Adultery and Julian Marriage Laws

In 18 BC, the Emperor Augustus turned his attention to social problems at Rome. Extravagance and adultery were widespread. Among the upper classes, marriage was increasingly infrequent and many couples who did marry failed to produce offspring. Augustus, who hoped to thereby elevate both morals and the numbers of upper classes in Rome and to increase the population of native Italians in Italy, enacted laws to encourage marriage and having children, including provisions establishing adultery as a crime. The law against adultery made the offence a crime punishable by exile and confiscation of property. Augustus assessed heavier taxes on unmarried men and women without husbands, and by contrast offered awards for marriage and childbearing.

The Augustan adultery law permitted a father to kill his daughter and her adulterer only if he caught them in his own domus (house) or that of the daughter’s husband and the husband can kill an adulterer of low status if discovered in the husband’s house. The language of pollution and violation underlines the sacred nature of the domus and the honorable duty to protect it.

Less serious offenses than adultery and rape could diminish the honor of the household. Domus in the sense of human households, as well as physical house was a focus of honor for Romans: the honor of the pater familias (father of the family) depended on his ability to protect his household, and in turn the virtue of the household contributed to his prestige. Augustus himself was obliged to invoke the law against his own daughter, Julia , and relegated her to the island of Pandateria .

The Augustan social laws were badly received and were modified in AD 9 by the Lex Papia Poppaea, named after the two bachelor consuls of that year. The earlier and later laws are often referred to in juristic sources as the lex Julia et Papia. In part as a result of Christian opposition to such policies, the laws were eventually nearly all repealed or fell into disuse under Constantine and later emperors, including Justinian .

 Divorce

 Divorce from Manus Marriage

Divorce, like marriage, changed and evolved throughout Roman history. As the centuries passed and ancient Rome became more diversified, the laws and customs of divorce also changed and became more diversified to include the customs and beliefs of all the different people. Divorce had always been a common occurrence in Rome and from the beginning of ancient law in Rome men have always had the possibility of divorcing their wives. Although this custom was usually reserved for serious marital faults, such as adultery, making copies of the household keys, consuming wine, or infertility , it could be employed by a husband at any time. For many centuries only husbands had this privilege but wives were finally included in this process and given permission to divorce their husbands as Rome entered into the classical age.

Since marriage was often used as a political tool in ancient Rome, especially in the upper classes, divorces were common when new political opportunities presented themselves. Anytime a new opportunity arouse, a man or woman would divorce their current spouse and marry a new one. A man or woman could form valuable family ties through their various marriages and divorces to different families. A motivated man or woman might marry and divorce a couple times in their lifetime if they thought it to their advantage.

One of the main reasons for divorce, besides serious marital fault, was a desire to no longer remain married to a spouse. Since one of the defining characteristics of marriage was a will to be married and an attitude of regarding one another as husband or wife, the marriage ended when the will or attitude ended. A husband or wife would notify their spouse that they no longer desired to be married and the marriage would end. It is interesting to note that only one spouse’s will was required for a divorce and that a divorce was still final even if the other spouse did not receive the notice of divorce. All that mattered was that one spouse wanted it to end, and it ended.

Divorce in ancient Rome was usually a private affair and only the parties involved were notified of it. A divorce did not have to be recognized or ratified by the church or state and no public record was kept of a divorce. The lack of divorce records often led to some confusion with the numerous marriages and divorces going on.

One of the main components of a marriage was the exchange of the dowry between the husband and the wife or the wife’s guardian. This would sometimes lead to disputes when the marriage ended because both parties wanted to claim the dowry. It became an established custom that if the wife were not at fault for the ending of the marriage, then she was able to reclaim her dowry. This would often happen if the husband had committed offenses during the marriage, such as adultery. Since either a husband or a wife could initiate a divorce, it became understood that if the wife wanted the divorce and there were children involved, then a husband could have some claim on the dowry based on the children.

 Divorce from Free Marriage

The Manus Marriage custom ended in the 1st century BCE and the Free Marriage divorce emerged. With this, the reasons for any divorce became irrelevant. Either spouse could leave a marriage at any point. Property during a marriage was kept separate under Roman Law, and this left only the dowry in common. In cases of adultery, husbands got to keep a portion of the dowry, but without the involvement of adultery women would take most if not all of their dowry with them, as well as their personal property. However, the woman had to get permission from the government to have a divorce while the man could simply just kick the woman out of the house.

 Remarriage and Widowhood

Remarriage was very common in ancient Rome society and many men and women were usually married at least twice in their lifetimes. This is due to the fact that there was a high infant mortality rate , high death rate , and low average life expectancy in ancient Rome. Men and women did not live very long. This high mortality rate plus the high divorce rate , common in ancient Rome, lead to many instances of remarriage. Since children were expected in marriage, each spouse usually brought at least one child to the new marriage. Remarriages thus created a new blending of the family in ancient Roman society, where children were influenced by stepparents and some instances where stepmothers were younger than their stepchildren .

Most wives were encouraged to remarry after either the death of the husband or a divorce. Ancient physicians believed that a woman was liable to get very sick if she was deprived of sexual activity and it could even lead to a woman getting ‘'hysteric uterine constriction.’' There was even legislation passed during the rule of Augustus that required widows and widowers to remarry to be able to fully inherit from people outside of their immediate family.

In ancient Roman religion , Concordia is the goddess who embodies agreement in marriage and society. Her Greek equivalent is usually regarded as Harmonia , with musical harmony a metaphor for an ideal of social concord or entente in the political discourse of the Republican era . She was thus often associated with Pax ("Peace") in representing a stable society.As such, she is more closely related to the Greek concept of homonoia (likemindedness), which was also represented by a goddess .

 

Concordia, standing with a patera and two cornucopiae , on the reverse of this coin of Aquilia Severa .

Concordia Augusta was cultivated in the context of Imperial cult . Dedicatory inscriptions to her, on behalf of emperors and members of the imperial family, were common.
In art

In art, Concordia was depicted sitting, wearing a long cloak and holding onto a patera (sacrificial bowl), a cornucopia (symbol of prosperity), or a caduceus (symbol of peace). She was often shown in between two other figures, such as standing between two members of the Imperial family shaking hands. She was associated with a pair of female deities, such as Pax and Salus , or Securitas and Fortuna . Paired "Security and Luck" could also be represented by Hercules and Mercury .

Temples

The oldest Temple of Concord , built in 367 BC by Marcus Furius Camillus , stood on the Roman Forum . Other temples and shrines in Rome dedicated to Concordia were largely geographically related to the main temple, and included (in date order):

• a bronze shrine (aedicula) of Concord erected by the aedile Gnaeus Flavius in 304 BC "in Graecostasis " and "in area Volcani" (placing it on the Graecostasis, close to the main temple of Concord). He vowed it in the hope of reconciling the nobility who had been outraged by his publication of the calendar, but the senate would vote no money for its construction and this thus had to be financed out of the fines of condemned usurers.^[5] It must have been destroyed when the main temple was enlarged by Opimius in 121 BC.
• one built on the arx (probably on the east side, overlooked the main temple of Concord below). It was probably vowed by the praetor Lucius Manlius in 218 BC after quelling a mutiny among his troops in Cisalpine Gaul ,^[6] with building work commencing in 217 and dedication occurring on 5 February 216.
• a temple to Concordia Nova, marking the end Julius Caesar had brought to civil war. It was voted by the senate in 44 BC.^[8] but was possibly never built.
• a temple built by Livia according to Ovid's Fasti VI.637‑638 ("te quoque magnifica, Concordia, dedicat aede Livia quam caro praestitit ipsa viro" - the only literary reference to this temple). The description of the Porticus Liviae follows immediately, and it is probable therefore that the temple was close to or within the porticus, but the small rectangular structure marked on the Marble Plan (frg. 10) can hardly have been a temple deserving of the epithet "magnifica" (HJ 316).

In Pompeii , the high priestess Eumachia dedicated a building to Concordia Augusta.

Modern religion

Harmonians and some Discordians equate Concordia with Aneris . Her opposite is thus Discordia, or the Greek Eris .

Probus (Latin: Marcus Aurelius Probus Augustus; c. 19 August 232 – September/October 282), was Roman Emperor from 276 to 282.

During his reign, the Rhine and Danube frontier was strengthened after successful wars against several Germanic tribes such as the Goths , Alamanni , Longiones , Franks , Burgundians , and Vandals . The Agri Decumates and much of the Limes Germanicus in Germania Superior were officially abandoned during his reign, with the Romans withdrawing to the Rhine and Danube rivers.

Life

Born in 232 in Sirmium (modern day Sremska Mitrovica ), Pannonia Inferior , the son of Dalmatius, Probus entered the army around 250 upon reaching adulthood. Appointed as a military tribune by the emperor Valerian , he later distinguished himself under the emperors Aurelian and Tacitus . He was appointed governor of the East by Tacitus, whose death in 276 prompted Probus' soldiers to proclaim him emperor.

Florianus , the half-brother of Tacitus, was also proclaimed successor by his soldiers, but he was killed after an indecisive campaign.^[9] Probus travelled west, defeating the Goths along the lower Danube in 277, and acquiring the title of Gothicus. His position as emperor was ratified by the Senate around this time.

As Emperor

In 278, Probus campaigned successfully in Gaul against the Alamanni and Longiones ; both tribes had advanced through the Neckar valley and across the Rhine into Roman territory. Meanwhile, his generals defeated the Franks and these operations were directed to clearing Gaul of Germanic invaders (Franks and Burgundians ), allowing Probus to adopt the titles of Gothicus Maximus and Germanicus Maximus.

One of his principles was never to allow the soldiers to be idle, and to employ them in time of peace on useful works, such as the planting of vineyards in Gaul, Pannonia and other districts, in order to restart the economy in these devastated lands.^[14] Of a greater and more lasting significance, Probus began the strategy of settling the Germanic tribes in the devastated provinces of the empire.

In 279–280, Probus was, according to Zosimus , in Raetia , Illyricum and Lycia , where he fought the Vandals . In the same years, Probus' generals defeated the Blemmyes in Egypt . Probus then ordered the reconstruction of bridges and canals along the Nile, where the production of grain for the Empire was centered.

In 280–281, Probus put down three usurpers, Julius Saturninus , Proculus and Bonosus . The extent of these revolts is not clear, but there are clues that they were not just local problems. In 281, the emperor was in Rome, where he celebrated his triumph .

Probus was eager to start his eastern campaign, delayed by the revolts in the west. He left Rome in 282, travelling first towards Sirmium, his birth city. About Probus' death different accounts exist. According to John Zonaras , the commander of the Praetorian Guard Marcus Aurelius Carus had been proclaimed, more or less unwillingly, emperor by his troops.

Assassination (282)

Probus sent some troops against the new usurper, but when those troops changed sides and supported Carus, Probus' remaining soldiers assassinated him at Sirmium (September/October 282). According to other sources, however, Probus was killed by disgruntled soldiers, who rebelled against his orders to be employed for civic purposes, like draining marshes.^[24] Carus was proclaimed emperor after Probus' death and avenged the murder of his predecessor.

In Roman religion , Concord (Latin: Concordia, "harmony") was the goddess of agreement, understanding, and marital harmony. Her Greek version is Harmonia , and the Harmonians and some Discordians equate her with Aneris . Her opposite is Discordia (or the Greek Eris ).The cult of Concordia Augusta ("Majestic Harmony") was of special importance to the imperial household . Dedicatory inscriptions to her, on behalf of emperors and members of the imperial family, were common. The oldest Temple of Concord , built in 367 BC by Marcus Furius Camillus , stood on the Roman Forum . Other temples and shrines in Rome dedicated to Concordia were largely geographically related to the main temple.