Greek Marriage.—Though neither Greek nor Roman marriage was definitely associated with the religion of the state, it was, however, among both peoples closely associated with religious rites of a domestic character. Plato in his Laws makes it the distinguishing mark of the legally wedded wife that "she had come into the house with gods and sacred marriage rites." These rites are sometimes represented upon Greek vases, as may be seen from the objects and illustrations placed in this Case. The ceremonies may be conveniently divided into those concerning (a) the preparation of the bride; (b) the removal of the bride from the house of her father to that of her husband; (c) the reception at that house; and (d) the presents given on the day following the marriage (ἐπαύλια).

(a) On the day before her wedding the bride not infrequently made an offering of the playthings of her childhood to some deity, presenting her toys to Artemis in particular. On the day before marriage, too, water for the bridal bath was brought in procession in the special form of tall vase called a λουτροφόρος; a small model is seen in Case 59 (No. 634). The vase is also seen standing on the chest in the room of the bride here depicted (No. 635; fig. 246). The scene is taken from the design on a toilet box of the fifth century B.C. (E 774), which shows the bride being adorned for her marriage. Besides the tall amphora already mentioned, two vases called "marriage bowls" (λέβητες γαμικοί) are seen standing on tall stems before the door, on the further side of which one of the bride's friends is turning the magic wheel intended to inspire the bridegroom with a greater longing of love. So Theocritus sings:

(b) The arrival of the husband, who comes to fetch the bride to his home, may probably be recognised in the design on the fifth-century vase No. 636. It is, however, a special and sacred occasion which is here represented. The bride, who is seated and holds a sceptre, is probably the Basilinna, wife of the Basileus, the magistrate at Athens who was charged with the supervision of the state-religion. She turns back to look at the bridegroom, who is none other than the wine-god Dionysos, holding his thyrsos or staff crowned with the pine-cone. Two love-gods fly towards the pair with wedding gifts, while on the right approaches a Victory holding lighted torches, which served to light the night-procession to the bridegroom's house. The subject is explained by a ceremony which took place at the Attic wine-festival of the Anthesteria, celebrated annually in February and March. On the second day of the festival there was a mystic marriage between the wine-god Dionysos and the wife of the Basileus,⁹⁰ and it can hardly be doubted that the present design refers to this.

(c) The actual progress of the bride to her husband's home is depicted on the black-figured vase No. 637, of sixth-century date (fig. 247). The departure took place at nightfall by torch-light, and the bride and bridegroom usually (as in the present instance) made the journey in a mule-car, attended by a friend called the parochos. On the vase (fig. 247) the bride and bridegroom are seen in front of the mule-car, and the parochos is seated behind. When the pair reached their home, they were welcomed by the father and mother of the bridegroom, and a procession was formed to the hearth-altar. This is a scene depicted on No. 638, a reproduction of a painting on a toilet-box in the Third Vase Room (D 11, on Case F). The bridegroom leads the bride by the hand towards the hearth-altar, by the side of which stands the hearth-goddess Hestia, holding a sceptre and what is probably a fig, an allusion to the figs, dates and other fruits showered over the wedded pair as they reached the hearth, and thence called καταχύσματα (down-pourings). Before the pair go a boy playing on the double-flutes and two women holding torches, who probably move round the altar, as well as another woman, who perhaps leads the way to the bridal chamber (figs. 248 and 249).

(d) Upon the day following the marriage the relations and friends brought presents to the house (ἐπαύλια).⁹¹ The presents consisted chiefly in objects likely to be useful to the bride, such as vases, articles of toilet, spinning implements, etc. The subject was a favourite one with the Greek vase-painters, probable examples being the designs on E 188 in Case 47 and the toilet-box E 773 in Case H in the Third Vase Room. A still better instance occurs on the restored "marriage vase" E 810 in Case H in the same room.

Roman Marriage.—Roman practice recognised various methods of lawful marriage. The illustrations and objects shown in this Case deal only with certain ceremonies which were common to all of them. They concern (a) the betrothal; (b) the actual wedding rites; and (c) the escorting (deductio) of the bride to the house of the bridegroom.

(a) The betrothal took the form of a solemn contract between the fathers and guardians on either side. In all Roman contracts it was customary that a pledge should be given, and this pledge often consisted in a ring. It was fitting, therefore, that a ring given to the woman by her betrothed should come to be a sign of the betrothal contract. It is natural to identify these rings with a series of Roman rings which have for their design two clasped right hands. An example in gold of about the third century A.D. (No. 639) is shown in this Case.

(b) The actual ceremony of marriage consisted in the solemn clasping of hands (dextrarum iunctio), an action seen on the relief on the sepulchral chest (No. 640) placed in this Case. The inscription shows that the chest was dedicated by a freedman and imperial scribe named Vitalis to the memory of his wife Vernasia Cyclas. The ceremony is only shown in an abbreviated form on this chest, but it appears in more detail on a relief from a sarcophagus (No. 641; fig. 250). The husband and wife clasp hands, and between them stands the pronuba or matron-friend of the bride, placing a hand on the shoulder of each. On the left of the group stands a man, perhaps the bride's father. To left and right of this scene of everyday Roman life we have the mythological personages whose attendance at the wedding may be supposed to be of good augury—Mars, Victory and Fortune. The clasping of hands was followed by a sacrifice to Jupiter, and this closed the actual wedding ceremonies. The sacrifice is represented in the illustration (fig. 251) taken from a Roman sarcophagus.⁹² The bride, and bridegroom stand by the burning altar, upon which the latter pours a libation. Behind the pair stands Juno pronuba, the presiding goddess of the wedding rites. On the right a bull is being led up to sacrifice, and on the left stand Venus, Hymenaeus and the Graces.

(c) When night had fallen there followed the procession, in which the bride was escorted from her father's house to that of the bridegroom, a procession described in one of the most splendid of the poems of Catullus.⁹³ Torch-bearers and flute-players led the way, and the wedding train was accompanied by a crowd, the boys in which chanted rude jesting verses and petitioned the bridegroom for nuts.⁹⁴ When the doorway of the house was reached, the bridegroom carefully lifted the bride over the threshold, that there might be no ill-omened stumbling. "Carry the gilded feet across the threshold," sings Catullus, "that the omen may be favourable." This moment is illustrated by a scene from a Roman comedy (No. 54), taken from a lamp exhibited on Table-Case K (see above, p. 28, fig. 17). The bride is being carried on the back of a man, while a Cupid waits at the door to receive her. Within the house she received a gift of fire and water, elements so necessary to the performance of the housewife's duties, and on the day following the wedding she did sacrifice at her husband's altar.

(635) Cat. of Vases, III., E 774; Furtwängler and Reichhold, Griech. Vasenmalerei, I., pl. 57 (3); (637) Cat. of Vases, II., B 485; (638) Cat. of Vases, III., D 11; Ath. Mitt., XXXII., 1907, p. 80 ff.; (639) Cat. of Rings, 276; (640) Cat. of Sculpt. 2379; (641) Journ. of Hellenic Studies, XXXVI., p. 85.

See also Daremberg and Saglio, s.v. Matrimonium.

89:  Theocr. ii. 17:  ἴυγξ, ἕλκε τὺ τῆνον ἐμὸν ποτὶ δῶμα τὸν ἄνδρα.

90:  Cf. Aristot. Ἀθ. Πολ. 3, 5; Dem. c. Neaer., c. 76; Mommsen, Feste d. Stadt Athen, p. 393 ff.

91:  See Jahrb. d. arch. Inst., 1900, p. 144 ff.

92:  Mon. dell' Inst. iv., pl. 9.

93:  No. lxi.

94:  Ibid., l. 131 f.