Tuesday, August 24, 2010

How did the ancient Greeks propose marriage?

Title is self-explanatory... how did the ancient Greeks propose marriage? I've heard that they proposed marriage by tossing an apple to the female, but I don't know if that's true.How did the ancient Greeks propose marriage?
No, it's not true. Ancient Greek marriages were ';arranged';, usually between the head of one family and another. ';Love'; didn't enter into it, and the girl may not have met the boy until the rites. Men generally got married when they were around 30, and the girl was around 15





';At the seasonable time bring home a wife for yourself,


when you are just about thirty, not being many years younger


or being many years older, for this is the best time to marry.


Let a woman mature for four years and be married the fifth year.


And you should marry a virgin that you may teach her to act right,


and especially one who lives in a house near to yours,


looking all around, lest your marriage should give your neighbors amusement....';How did the ancient Greeks propose marriage?
I'd guess the potential husband, or his family went to her father or family. I don't know about the apple story, I've never heard of that, but in most parts of the ancient world, and much of the mid east, africa and asia even today, marriage is an arrangement between families, not the husband and wife.

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