CLST 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Alcibiades, Prostitution In Ancient Greece, Isocrates

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: CLST 100
• Professor: Fabio Colivicchi

Document Summary

Purpose of marriage was the procreation of legitimate children. Marriage was primarily a private contract between two oikoi and their kurioi. I give you this woman for the plowing of legitimate children. The age of marriage was 15/16 for women around 30 for men. The wife brought with her a dowry and moved to the house of the husband. In case of adultery of the wife divorce was mandatory. There is not much evidence on divorce in athens, but it appears that it could be a mutual agreement between the husband and the family of the wife, usually with immediate re-marriage of the wife. In other cases, the two parts were in disagreement and the divorce cases ended up in court. We take a prostitute for our pleasure, a concubine for daily attention to our physical wants, a wife to give us legitimate children and a respected house.