Ancient Roman Marriage System

Ancient Greco-Roman marriage was strictly monogamous. Romans traditionally believed that the purpose of marriage was to produce legitimate children, allowing citizens to produce new citizens. The legal age for marriage was 12 for girls and 14 for boys, with most Roman women marrying in their late teens or early twenties. Wives were relatively financially independent, and society encouraged widows and divorced women to remarry. Widows could inherit their husband’s property, which meant that while poor widows were very poor, rich widows were extremely wealthy. Some women who married multiple times accumulated huge fortunes and were sought after by many men. Therefore, most ordinary widows were “widows indeed” (1 Timothy 5:3), but some were “widows who live for pleasure” (1 Timothy 5:6).