CLAS 21405 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Pater Familias, Socalled, Toga
13 Sep 2017
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Slaves whose masters allowed them to enter into marriage-like relationships used the term contubernium, tent-sharing, rather than the usual term for marriage, matrimonium: next, the marriage must not be incestuous. From what we can tell about calpurnia, she was just out of puberty and so just around the age of 12 to 15. It is no wonder that when pliny talks about her it is almost as if she is his child rather than his wife. The betrothal was the ceremony in which the engagement was announced: not all marriages had such a ceremony. She was usually just out of puberty and the marriage marked her entrance to adulthood: boys had a ceremony in which they put aside their childhood toga and received the toga of manhood, the so-called toga virilis. When she arrived, the groom would ceremoniously accept his new wife into his home: that evening, there would be a wedding party with many guests.
