ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, was a traditional patrician form of

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

. The ceremony involved the bride and bridegroom sharing a cake of emmer, in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''far'' or ''panis farreus'', hence the rite's name. ''Far'' is often translated as "

spelt Spelt (''Triticum spelta''), also known as dinkel wheat is a species of wheat. It is a relict crop, eaten in Central Europe and northern Spain. It is high in protein and may be considered a health food. Spelt was cultivated from the Neolit ...

", which is inaccurate as the grain used was ''Triticum dicoccum'' (emmer), not ''Triticum spelta''. The Flamen Dialis and pontifex maximus presided over the

wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...

, and ten witnesses had to be present. The woman passed directly from the hand ''(manus)'' of her father or head of household (the ''

pater familias The ''pater familias'', also written as ''paterfamilias'' (: ''patres familias''), was the head of a Roman family. The ''pater familias'' was the oldest living male in a household, and could legally exercise autocratic authority over his extende ...

'') to that of her new husband. Having parents who were married by was a prerequisite for becoming a Vestal or the Flamen Dialis. seems to have been limited to those whose parents were also married by , but later, perhaps with the rise of plebeian ''nobiles'', this requirement must have been relaxed.

Scipio Africanus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (, , ; 236/235–) was a Roman general and statesman who was one of the main architects of Rome's victory against Ancient Carthage, Carthage in the Second Punic War. Often regarded as one of the greatest milit ...

presumably married his wife Aemilia Tertia by , because their elder son was Flamen Dialis; yet Scipio's mother Pomponia was a plebeian. Divorce for marriages, '' diffarreatio'', was a difficult process and therefore rare. Not much is known about how ''diffarreatio'' was carried out except that there was a special type of sacrifice that caused the dissolution of the relationship between the man and woman. She would then pass back into the ''manus'' of her ''paterfamilias''. Originally, the was indissoluble, and this remained true of the marriage of the Flamen Dialis. The other two major flamines, the Flamen Martialis and the Flamen Quirinalis, were also required to marry by . The three major flamines were also required to marry virgins; further, if the wife of the Flamen Dialis died, he was immediately required to resign. It is not clear if this was true of the other priests.

References

{{Italic title Roman law Marriage in ancient Rome Types of marriage History of food and drink Ancient Roman rituals

See also

References