Weddings in ancient Rome

In some circumstances, Roman literary depictions of weddings appear to select the practices included within their portrayal based upon artistic conceit rather than the veracity of those accounts; writers may have intentionally imitated the works of earlier, more famous authors such as Statius or Catullus.

"[12][20] The German classical philologist August Rossbach argued that the sex crines were a typical component of the attire of a Roman matron, and that brides wore the headgear merely because it marked their transition into marriage and matronhood.

He attempts to defend the abandonment of pagan traditions and shift towards Christian religion by citing many older, forgotten customs, including the usage of a spearpoint in wedding ceremonies, asking the readers if they still "stroke the hair of brides with the hasta caelibaris?

"[44][45] Jan Radicke argues that the flammeum likely remained in use by the lifetime of Catullus as it retained a strong sense of prominence in his poems, although he concludes that by the Augustan era the garment had fallen out of fashion.

Classicist Vassiliki Panoussi argues that such depictions impart a sense of intimacy, passivity, and vulnerability onto the bride, citing in particular the use of the diminutive "floridulo" and the connection between the term "parthenice" and the Greek word "παρθένος" ("parthénos," "maidenly, chaste").

Panoussi interprets these portrayals as a form of objectification of the bride, reducing her to a piece of ornamentation utilized to display the splendor of her husband's household, the same way the flower is used to decorate the garden.

[4][80] Other writings of Cicero imply that augurs or other officiating priests remained pivotal to the Roman wedding: he lambasts an individual named Sassia for marrying her son without anyone "to bless" or "to sanction the union" and amidst "nought but general foreboding.

"[82] In his description of the various illegitimate weddings of Messalina and Nero, the 1st-century CE Roman historian Tacitus highlights the ritualistic taking of the auspices, possibly as part of an attempt to convey the debauchery of these figures.

[86] Hersch argues that nuptial pig sacrifices may have ceased to occur by the early Empire due to lack of any artistic evidence for such a custom, despite the plethora of depictions of bulls and sheep on wedding scenes from sarcophagi.

"[87] Another reference to pre-nuptial animal sacrifice derives from the Aeneid: Queen Dido, prior to her wedding, attempts to acquire assistance from various deities by—in isolation—pouring a libation between the horns of a white cow and sacrificing sheep to Apollo ("Phoebus"), "lawgiving Ceres ("legiferae Cereri")," the "father Lyaeus ("patrique Lyaeo")," and, most importantly ("ante omnis"), Juno, who governs marriage bonds ("cui vincla iugalia curae").

[89] However, in the Roman play Octavia, a bloodless sacrifice of material possessions is depicted, in which Poppaea Sabina, the second wife of Nero, coats an altar in wine and offers incense to unspecified gods.

[119] In the play Casina by Plautus, the maid Pardalisca instructs the bride—the slave Chalinus disguised as Casina—to lift her feet over the threshold, explaining that this ritual must occur for her to always remain more powerful than the groom, to conquer him, and to despoil him.

[123] Festus also cites Tanaquil as the origin of this tradition, adding that Roman brides honored Tanaquil—whose spindle and distaff were alleged by Pliny to have been stored in the Temple of Sancus—because they sought a good omen for their wool-working skills.

"[141] Servius provides additional details on the nature of the ritual, claiming that the water was taken from a "pure fountain" ("puro fonte") by a most fortunate ("felicissimum") boy or girl and used to wash the bride's feet.

[144] This tradition is also depicted in the legal comments of the 2nd-century CE jurist Scaevola, who notes that—if a couple divorced— then any gift of money made before the bride had "crossed over to the groom" (possibly referring to the domum deductio) and had been "accepted by water and fire," could not be demanded to be returned from the wedding dowry.

"[4][158] Pliny the Elder also refers to a "spina" ("thorn") that is the "most auspicious of all the nuptial torches" ("nuptiarum facibus auspicissima"), because—according to another author named Masurius—they were once used by the shepherds who participated in the rape of the Sabine women.

[169] The origins of these songs are unclear: Horace claims that they derived from earlier "ancient farmers' ("Agricolae prisci"), who had a custom of—after the grain harvest—propitiating tutelary deities by offering a pig for the Earth, milk for Silvanus, and flowers and wine for memory of their short lives.

[191] However, Seneca also portrays the bride as—in the opinion of Hersch—a "drunk partygoer:" In his Medea, he mentions that Hymen arrives at the wedding with "languid, drunken steps, wreathing [his] brows in a rose garland" and,[192] following the conclusion of the ceremony, permits the spewing of the Fescennine verses and implores the youths to sing songs deprecating their masters.

[198] Servius supports the connection between the camillus and the Flamen Dialis, stating that noble and "unclothed" ("investes") boys and girls were called camili and camilae and respectively that they each served the flamina flaminum and flaminicarum.

"[208] Another possibility is that the pronuba had a role in sacrificial rites; Treggiari, in support of this claim, cites a passage from Seneca in which Medea declares that she shall carry the "pronubal torch" into the bedroom shortly prior to sacrificing victims upon an altar.

[210] Karen Hersch suggests that the original audience of the Aeneid may have been intended to view the wedding is illegitimate due to the wrath of Juno, as in the Digests it is stated that statements made in anger—such as a request for divorce—are not necessarily legally valid.

Claudian describes Stilicho, who was one of the most prominent figures in Roman politics during this time period, performing the "father's office" and uniting the groom, Emperor Honorius with his bride, Empress Maria, using his "illustrious hand" to demonstrate his support for the marriage.

[226] The historian Cassius Dio records that, in 176 CE, the Senate decreed that silver statues of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger were to be erected at the Temple of Venus and Roma and all newlyweds were required to perform sacrifices.

Another example dated to around 390 CE, housed in the Cattedrale di San Catervo, portrays two married Christians named Flavius Julius Catervius and Septimia Severina; they are located underneath a hand holding jeweled wreath, which has been interpreted as either God bestowing a reward upon the couple, although the scholar Joseph Wilpert argues that it may have represented the hand of Jesus due to the presence of the Chi-Rho symbol located on the sides of portrait and Theodor Klauser proposed that it may have been a wedding wreath.

"[234][235] Cicero, in his legal argument Pro Cluentio ("In favor of Cluentius"), mentions that an individual named Oppianicus organized a wedding feast and invited a sizeable quantity of guests according to the "custom of Larinum.

[251] Cyprian, a 3rd-century Christian bishop, admonishes all virgins who attended wedding banquets, as they may partake in the "unchaste conversation" and the "disgraceful words" that excite lust and compel the bride "to the endurance of shame ("patiendum stupri")" and the groom "to dare lewdness."

[254] Juvenal mocks grooms who expend much effort or resources on extravagant meals and cakes called mustacea for women who do not reciprocate their love, declaring that the wedding indulgences were merely a waste of time in such a scenario.

Panoussi argues that such symbolism is present in the Pharsalia of Lucan, in which he describes Marcia, the wife of Cato the Younger, himself a commander in Caesar's civil war, arriving at her wedding dressed in funeral garb.

Panoussi suggests that the dissolution of the wedding foreshadowed the tragic fate of Marcia and Cato, and also highlighting the breakdown in Roman society that the text implies occurred in tandem with the civil war.

Within the play, the character of Andromache summarizes the unfortunate nature of both weddings by stating "You plague, destruction, pest of both peoples, do you see these tombs of leaders and the bare bones of so many lying all over the plain unburied?