Early Marriage of Girls in the Roman Empire

Abstract

This study examines early marriage among girls in the Roman Empire as a stable social practice formed through the interaction of law, custom, family structure, economic factors, and medical perceptions. The significance of the research lies in moving beyond determining age limits or merely describing the phenomenon; rather, it reveals how paternal authority, notions of honor and virginity, dowry practices, and rites of passage functioned in producing and sustaining early marriage, making it a useful entry point for understanding Roman society and its perception of the girl’s position within the family. The study aims to trace the legal framework governing marital eligibility and the criteria of puberty and consent, analyze the role of the family, dowry, and social class differences, clarify the relationship between virginity and social control, and examine references in medical and funerary sources regarding early pregnancy and its consequences. The research problem centers on explaining the persistence of early marriage despite legal emphasis on consent and the presence of medical warnings about the risks of early pregnancy, thus raising the question of the relationship between legal norms and social practice. The study adopts the historical method through analysis of legal, juristic, and literary texts, as well as material evidence such as funerary inscriptions, and relates them to their social, cultural, and economic context. The findings indicate that consent remained a theoretical condition shaped by power relations within the family, that marital eligibility was tied to puberty and fertility rather than psychological maturity, and that dowry, virginity, and class alliances contributed to sustaining the practice, while medical warnings had limited influence in comparison with the weight of custom and paternal authority.