A Marriage contracts from Roman Egypt

When Egypt came under Greek control after the conquest of Alexander the Great in 332/1 B.C.E., the Greeks found an ancient culture with long-established marriage customs.

In other contracts, there is no mention of ekdosis, but the husband simply acknowledges (homologei) that he has received the dowry from the wife or her father.

Dowry was always a very important component of marriage in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, as in Roman society. There were several different terms denoting the property brought by a wife to the marriage, indicating different types of property. The dowry proper was usually called pherne (as opposed to proix, in classical Greece) and consisted of money and movable goods, not property or slaves. In the Roman period immovable property (land) and slaves are sometimes part of the dowry, under the influence of Roman custom; this kind of dowry may be called proix or prosphora rather than pherne. We also find the parapherna, “things in addition to the dowry,” comprising personal items belinging to the wife, such as clothing and household utensils [cf. Part I.E.2]. Dowries varied widely in monetary value, depending on the resources of the bride's family, and the descriptions in the marriage contracts of dowry and other bridal appurtenances provide interesting evidence of the social and economic status of the couples involved.⁸⁰

The dowry served not only as the wife's contribution to the expenses of the marriage, but also to enforce the respective duties of husband and wife. In contracts of the Ptolemaic and early Roman periods, a wife who did not respect the “moral clause” of the marriage contract, which laid down her responsibilities, would forfeit the dowry upon divorce; a husband who did not respect the “moral clause” or who, when a divorce was requested by the wife, failed to return the dowry within a set period of time (usually sixty days after the divorce), would have to pay an additional 50 percent of the original dowry amount [cf.

Not all marriages had written documentation. As in Roman law, it was perfectly possible for a couple to contract an “unwritten” marriage, which was as legally valid as a “written” marriage. Sometimes unwritten marriages would later be converted into “written” ones by the drawing up of a contract after the couple had been married for some time.⁸¹

In many regards, such as the ideology of marriage as a union for the purpose of bearing legitimate children and the importance of dowry, marriage in Roman Egypt resembled marriage in Italy and elsewhere in the Roman west. But in other respects, there were signifi­cant differences, the most obvious being attitudes toward marriage between close relatives. In Roman law, and in Roman society, close-kin marriages, particularly brother-sister unions, but also marriage between a woman and her maternal uncle, were illegal and morally repug­nant [see Chapter 3, Part I.A]. But elsewhere in the Empire, particularly in the eastern provinces, attitudes were different. There is considerable evidence for the practice of close-kin marriage in the first two and a half centuries of Roman rule in Egypt, though the origins of this practice and reasons for it are matters of debate. Before the Edict of Caracalla in 212 granted Roman citizenship to all free provincials (and thus made all provincials subject to Roman private law), unions between close kin, especially siblings, comprised about 20 percent of all marriages in Roman Egypt [Bagnall and Frier 1994, 127-34; Hopkins 1980].

Sibling marriage produced the same kind of documentation as other marriages. An agree­ment from the reign of Domitian records the marriage of a brother and sister, who had already been living together in an unwritten marriage. The agreement contains all the usual features of a marriage contract: the husband's acknowledgment that he has received a dowry, his obligation to provide support for his wife, and provisions for divorce, and is followed by a division of property among her children by the couple's mother to take effect after her death.⁸⁵ Sibling unions might also end in divorce; in a divorce agreement from Tebtunis dated 138, we learn that the husband squandered his sister-wife's dowry [P.Kron. 52; see Rowlandson 1998, 130-1].

The following selections, arranged chronologically, are chosen out of more than a hundred surviving contracts to illustrate the different types of marriage contract found in Egypt under Roman rule.⁸⁶

1   A synkhoresis from Alexandria

Alexandria was one of the largest cities of the Mediterranean world and the center of Roman government for the province of Egypt, but almost no papyri have survived there.

The Protarchos archive includes eight marriage contracts, all written in Greek.⁸⁸ They represent Greek, not native Egyptian or Roman practice. Although differing in their particu­lars according to the couple's personal circumstances, all eight follow the same format and have very similar, often identical, wording (some papyri are fragmentary and so are missing some parts):

1     Address to Protarchos, from the parties to the marriage.

2     Description of bride's dowry (clothes, jewelry, and money).

3     Husband's obligations and the penalty he faces if he fails to meet them (almost always forfeiture of dowry plus one-half of original dowry amount).

4     Wife's obligations and her penalty (always loss of dowry) if she fails to meet them.

5     Couple's intention to file another contract (syngraphe} with officials called the hierothytai within five working days (this clause does not appear in all the synkhoreseis).

6     Request that the contract be filed; date of contract.

In the marriage contract below, as in other official documents of Roman Egypt, the woman, Isidora, is accompanied by a guardian (kyrios), in this case her brother.⁸⁹ After the marriage, her kyrios would be her husband, except for transactions (such as divorce) in which he was involved in some other way [Chapter 1, Part III.C].

BGU IV.1050, 12-11 B.C.E.

To Protarchos, from Isidora daughter of Herakleides son of Dionysios, with her kyrios, her brother Bakhios, son of Herakleides son of Dionysios from the deme ofIsis. Isidora and Dionysios acknowledge that they have come together with each other in marriage. And Dionysios also acknowledges that he has received from Isidora by hand from her house a dowry of women's clothes valued at 100 drachmas⁹⁰ of silver, a pair of gold earrings of two quarters weight (of a gold didrachmon) and sixty drachmas of coined Ptolemaic silver.

(They marry on the understanding that) Dionysios, taking the afore­mentioned dowry, supports and clothes Isidora as befits a married woman, according to his means, and that he not mistreat her or abuse her or throw her out or bring another woman into (the house) or (if he does), he pays back in full the dowry plus 50 percent, there being the right (to Isidora) to exact payment from the same Dionysios and from all his possessions as if by a court judgment. And (on the understanding that) Isidora does not sleep away or be away for a day from Dionysios' house without Dionysios' approval, or damage the home, or be with another man, or (if she does), after being judged guilty of having done so, she is deprived of her dowry.⁹¹

(They acknowledge) that they will also deposit a contract about the marriage at the office of the hierothytai within five working days from the day when they announce this to each other, in which will be written both the dowry and the other customary things and the things concerning the death of either one of the spouses, as it is decided (by them) in common at the right time.⁹² We ask (that this document be registered).

2    Abstract of an alimentary contract from Tebtunis

A different type of marriage agreement is found in the early Roman period at Tebtunis in the Fayum. These are known as “alimentary” or “maintenance” contracts (syngraphai trophitides), between the husband (or his parents) and the wife. Abstracts of five such agreements are preserved in a roll of abstracts of contracts prepared by the record office (grapheion) of Tebtunis in the year 42 C.E. Thus what we have is not the original contract, but an abbreviated version of it. The abstracts are in Greek, whereas the original alimentary contract would have been written in Demotic, the native Egyptian language. The alimentary contract itself is a later development of an originally Egyptian marriage arrangement, also called an “alimentary contract,” but differing from the Roman-period agreements.⁹³

In the Tebtunis alimentary contracts, the husband declares that he is making over to his wife a certain amount of money and all the property he owns or will own during the marriage. The wife's contribution to the marriage is then described: the dowry (pherne), always in money, and the parapherna, personal items given in addition to the pherne. Then come the names, ages, and physical descriptions of the parties to the marriage, and the name, age and description of the hypographeus (subscriber to the contract) who signs for each party. The dowry given here is rather low compared to other marriage contracts from Tebtunis of the same period [see Hopkins 1980, 342].

Unlike many other marriage contracts (except those which put into written form unions previously existing as “unwritten marriages”), the alimentary contracts usually are between couples who have already been married for some time. That is why the couple is considerably older (often in their thirties or forties) than the parties in other types of marriage contracts.⁹⁴

P.Mich. II.121.recto Ill.i, 42 C.E.

Alimentary contract of eleven gold-pieces of money and deed of cession and conveyance in regard to my portion of my maternal inheritance of a house and courtyard and all the things appertaining to it in Tebtunis of the Polemon district now, and (in regard to) the possessions I will acquire from now on, allotments and slaves and movable property and household goods, in any way whatever.

The dowry given is sixty silver drachmas and the parapherna, without valuation, is a pair of gold earrings of three quarters (weight) and a gold cres­cent necklace of one and a half (quarters weight) and silver armlets of eight drachmas of uncoined bullion (weight) and a bronze basin and two bronze water-jars and tin utensils of two minas weight.

This is the contract which Patunis son of Kronion and Soueris, about 40 years old, with a scar on his left cheek, made with his wife Thatres daughter of Nikomedes(?), her mother being Thomenis daughter of Olios(?), about 26 years old, with a scar in the middle of her forehead below the hair. The subscriber (for Patunis) was Ptolemaios son of Chairemon, about 75 years old, with a scar above the left elbow, and for the other (Thatres), Herakleides son of Horion, about 60 years old with a scar on his left ankle. The rest in conformity (with the general format of such contracts).

3    A Latin marriage contract

Almost all marriage contracts found in Egypt from the Roman imperial period are in Greek, but several Latin documents relating to marriage do exist, all unfortunately very fragmentary. This Latin marriage contract, on papyrus, was written in duplicate, which was an unusual practice for documents from Egypt (but cf. the wax tablet diptych, also in Latin, requesting a guardian in Chapter 1, Part III.C), though more common in the Near East (see below on P.Yadin 18). It appears that one copy of the text was written above the other; then the upper (inner) text was rolled up and fastened shut (sealed or sewn up). That way the lower (outer) text could still be read, and if the outer text were damaged or there were doubts about its validity, the inner text could be unfastened and read.⁹⁵

Three fragments of the document survive; two were published as P.Mich. VII.434 ( = FIRA III.17); the third was later published as P.Ryl. IV.612. The text of what was probably the inner script (P.Ryl. IV.612) differs slightly from the text of the outer script (P.Mich. VII.434), but they can be used to supplement each other. Even with the supplements, much of the text is still missing.⁹⁶

The provenance and date of the contract are not given in the document. The full name of the bride's father is not preserved, but only his cognomen Nomissianus. A eettain G^us Antistius Nomissianus is known from another papyrus dated 141 [P.Phil. 11], to have owned land in the village of Philadelphia, which is also the location of the dotal land mentioned in this contract. If this Nomissianus is identical to the father of Zenarion, the marriage contract may also come from Philadelphia, and can be dated to sometime in the early to mid-second century.⁹⁷ The tria nomina (three names) of the groom, Marcus Petronius Servillius, indicate that he was a Roman citizen, as was the bride's father (assuming he is Gaius Antistius Nomissianus). As with other Latin documents relating to marriage found in Egypt [P.S.I. 730; P.Mich. VII.442, 444], the agreement was witnessed and signed by seven Roman citizens.

The contract shows an interesting combination of Greek and Roman elements. The marriage is said to be in accordance with Augustus' marriage legislation, applicable only to Roman citizens [see Part I.B]. The dowry consists of jewelry and clothing (as in Greek contracts), but also landed property and a slave (uncommon in Greek contracts). Many of the dowry items are Greek words written in Latin letters. Like Greek brides in Egypt, Zenarion also had parapherna. The groom too contributes property, an early instance of the pre-nuptial gift that becomes standard in late Roman law [see Part II.C].

P.Mich. VII.434 + P.Ryl. IV.612, 2nd c.

[C. Antistiu]s Nomissianus gave in marriage his own daughter Zenarion, a virgin,⁹⁸ according to the Julian law which [was] passed concerning the Marrying of the Orders for the sake of [procreating children],⁹⁹ M. Petronius Servillius [took her as wife], and he (Nomissianus) declared to him (in the name of) dowry and gave all the things [which are written below on behalf of the same] above-mentioned (daughter): near the village of Philadelphia, two and three-quarters iugera of katoikic land¹⁰⁰ from her father’s estate in the place Cor... [the rest of the place name is missing], and [in] the same village... three and a half (iugera) of sandy (land) from her father’s estate... half part of a vineyard, and among gold items, a very long earring of two and a half quarters weight and necklaces (or rings?¹⁰¹) of one and a half quarters weight, (which altogether) make four quarters, silver bracelets (?) one pair, seven staters in weight; and in clothing whose value has been appraised: a tunic and a little cloak and a cloak from Scyros worth 180 Augustan drachmas and a heratianon¹⁰ and a striped garment; and a bronze Venus¹⁰³ and a small bronze jar worth forty-eight Augustan drachmas, and a mirror and a chest. and two oil flasks and another small jar seven minas and a quarter in weight, and a little wooden box, a chair, a perfume jar, a basket; and a slavewoman, Herais, from her father's estate; and as parapherna, a tunic and a little worn-out cloak. And likewise M. Petronius Servillius himself said that he had brought [his] own (contribution) in the village of Philadelphia two iugera of grain-land in the place... [the rest is missing]

[On the back were the signatures of seven witnesses, all but the last in Greek.]

4    A mother gives her daughter in 'marriage

In 212, the Edict of Caracalla bestowed Roman citizenship on all free inhabitants of the Empire. In theory, this meant that all marriages had to be according to Roman law, but by and large provincials continued to follow their traditional marriage customs. In this Greek contract from the mid-third century, the participants all bear the nomen (family name) Aurelia (feminine form) or Aurelius (masculine form), indicating that they or their forefathers received citizenship from Caracalla, whose women was Aurelius. (This does not imply any blood relationship among Aurelii; after 212, almost everyone whose family had not received the citizenship earlier was called Aurelius/a.)

Aurelia Tauseiris is given in marriage by her mother Aurelia Thaesis, presumably a widow.¹⁰⁴ Neither one is said to have a kyrios, but Thaesis is accompanied by a man called a synestos, who assists her in the transaction and signs the contract for her, since (like most women in Roman Egypt) she is illiterate [see Chapter 1, Part III.E on use of a synestos by women without a kyrios]. The dowry (pherne), consisting of jewelry and clothing, is all assigned a monetary value and if the marriage ends by divorce, Aurelius Arsinoos must repay the full value which the dowry had at the time of the wedding. This was a shrewd move on Aurelia Thaesis’ part; as Roman jurists warned, it was not in the husband’s best interest for non-monetary items in the dowry, especially clothing, to be given a monetary value, since he would be responsible for any wear or loss during the marriage [D.23.3.10 pr; Gardner 1986a, 102; see Part I.D].

P.Oxy. X.1273, 260 C.E.

For good fortune. Aurelia Thaesis daughter of Eudaimon, her mother being Herais, from the city of Oxyrhynchus, with Aurelius Theon, also called Neoptianus and however he is called, assisting (synestos), gave her own daughter Aurelia Tauseiris in marriage to a husband, Aurelius Arsinoos son of Tryphon, his mother being Demetria, from the same city. To him also the same giver (Aurelia Thaesis), on behalf of the same daughter of hers who is being married, provides as dowry of common gold on the Oxyrhynchite standard: a neckpiece called a maniakes with a stone, of thirteen quarters weight excluding the stone; a brooch having five stones with a gold setting, of four quarters weight excluding the stones; a pair of earrings having ten pearls, of three quarters weight excluding the pearls; a little ring of half a quarter weight. And in clothing whose value has been appraised: a silvery hooded Dalmatic cape,¹⁰⁵ worth 260 drachmas of coined silver, a white fringed single-cloth little chiton¹⁰⁶ worth 160 drachmas of coined silver, a blue-green Dalmatic cape worth 100 drachmas, another Dalmatic cape, white with purple border, worth 100 drachmas, so that the whole dowry is worth one mina, four quarters and a half of common gold, and the value of the clothing is 620 drachmas, the sum total to which nothing has been added. And the bridegroom, Aurelius Arsinoos, having been asked about the afore-mentioned dowry by the giver, Aurelia Thaesis, agreed that he had received the full amount in regard to the afore-mentioned weight and value.

Therefore let the married couple live with each other blamelessly, guarding the rights of marriage, and let the husband... provide to the wife all the necessities according to his ability. But if — and may it not happen — there should be a separation of the couple arising from disagreement, the husband shall give back to the giver (Aurelia Thaesis, the mother), if she is still alive, or if not, to the bride, the afore-mentioned dowry in full within 60 days from the time the request is made, the gold according to the reck­oning of the weight of each item, but in regard to the clothing whose value has been appraised, those on the bride's side will have a choice either to have them at the value they will have at that time, and take the balance in silver, or to take the afore-mentioned appraised value itself, and the groom will have responsibility for wear and tear and loss of all items.

And if at the time of separation the bride should be pregnant, the groom shall give to her 40 drachmas for the expenses of childbirth. Concerning the request for return of the afore-mentioned dowry, those on the bride's side will have the right of execution on the groom and all his possessions.¹⁰⁷

This contract, having been written in duplicate so that each party can have a single copy, is legally valid. And whenever they choose, both or one of them will make it public at the record-office, without the need for the participation of the other nor any other consent, because they agree hence­forth to its future publication. And, having asked each other about whether these things were done correctly and well, they agreed (that they were).

In the seventh year of the Emperors and Caesars, Publius Licinnius Valerianus and Publius Licinnius Valerianus Gallienus, Germanici, greatest, pious, (and) fortunate, and Publius Licinnius Cornelius Saloninus Valerianus the most notable Caesar, Augusti, the 2nd of Mecheir.¹⁰⁸

[in a 2nd hand] I, Aurelia Thaesis, have given my daughter in marriage to the above-mentioned Arsinoos and I have brought to him the afore­mentioned dowry as is set forth above and having been asked, I agreed. I, Aurelius Theon, also called Nepotianus, assisted her and I wrote on her behalf since she does not know letters.

[in a 3rd hand] I, Aurelius Arsinoos, have had the afore-mentioned dowry and if — may it not happen — there should be a separation, I will give it back as stated above and having been asked, I agreed.

5    The marriage of two embalmers

The date of this fragmentary contract in Greek from Oxyrhynchus is unknown, but it is from the same period as the previous one or earlier.¹⁰⁹ (The fact that all participants are Aurelii indicates a date after 212; see above.) The bride and groom are embalmers, involved in the preservation of mummies, and the contract was made in the presence of two other embalmers. The bride gives herself in marriage, which is unusual.¹¹⁰ There does not seem to be a dowry, perhaps due to the humble socio-economic status of the couple.¹¹¹ The end of the contract, unfortunately lost, made provisions for divorce.

P.Oxy. XLIX.3500, 3rd c.

For good fortune. Aurelia Kyrilla daughter of Isidoros, her mother being Sinthonis, from the city of Oxyrhynchus, has given herself to Aurelius Pasigonis son of Paeis(?), his mother being Taues, from the same city, both being embalmers.

Therefore let the married couple live with each other, guarding the rights of marriage. And let the [husband] also provide to his wife all the necessities according to his ability.

They established this agreement with each other in the presence of the Aurelii Diogas son of Diogenes and Sarapion son of Paulinus, both of the same kind,¹¹² on condition that if on the one hand Kyrilla without any reasonable cause... [the rest is lost]

Far fewer marriage contracts survive from the later imperial period than from the early Empire. Whereas we have dozens of marriage agreements from the first and second centuries, fewer than a dozen are known from the third century, three from the fourth century, and two from the fifth.¹¹³

In a lacunose agreement dated 304 from Hermopolis [P.Vind.Bosw. 5], Aurelia Ammonia states that she has given her daughter in marriage “according to the the Papion-Pappaeon (sic) law.”¹¹⁴ The daughter (whose name does not survive) is said to be “present and consenting” to the union, the only explicit mention of the bride's consent in any of the late contracts [Beaucamp 1992, 116]. The groom is accompanied by his curator, the guardian for fatherless children under twenty-five. The dowry, given by the bride's mother, comprises items of clothing, linen, “female implements,” and two slaves. This is one of the last refer­ences to the Augustan marriage legislation (which had come to be known collectively as the “Papian—Poppaean laws”), abolished by Constantine fifteen years later [see Parts I.B. and II.A].¹¹⁵

6    A husband moves in with his wife and her father

The only marriage contract to survive more or less intact from the fourth century presents a type of marital arrangement unusual in Roman Egypt, though it is known from later Byzantine documents [Montevecchi 1936, 18; Beaucamp 1992, 108]. In the following Greek contract between Aurelius Asep and Aurelius Aron, Aron not only marries his daughter Apia to Asep, but also agrees to receive him into his home, as Asep is said to be “destitute” (gymnieuonta).¹¹⁶ Aron does this “by persuasion,” suggesting that he may not have been entirely happy about the marriage of his daughter to a pauper. He and his daughter are far from wealthy themselves; note the small dowry (here called doryphion, “wedding-gift”). However, if Asep leaves Aron and his daughter, he must pay a fine; one wonders how he would be expected to have the money. Aron is getting not just a son-in-law, but a bound laborer!

Because both parties are illiterate, a priest (papas) writes on their behalf — an interesting early reference to the participation of a Christian cleric in marriage arrangements [see Evans Grubbs 1995, 152].¹¹⁷

P.Ross.Georg. III.28, 24 February, 358

In the consulship of our lord Constantius the eternal Augustus on the... Mecheir. This is a copy.

The Aurelii, Asep son of Ol..., his mother being Termouthis, from the village of Taurinon of the Arsinoite nome, and Aron, son of Kounias from the settlement Psetra of the same nome, have made an agreement concerning the coming together of Aurelius Asep with Apia, the daughter of Aron, for the partnership of marriage. But Aron, by persuasion, has received Asep, who is destitute, from the time of the current first indiction¹¹⁸ and Aron has offered to his own daughter for the purpose of wedding-gift three hooded Dalmatic cape and one mantle (pallium). Henceforth, therefore, let the married couple live together. But indeed, also a face-cloth and. and an earring.¹¹⁹

As Asep does not have the power (exousia) to leave Sophia (Apia) after this, the one who transgresses after this will give to the one who remains in the name of penalty and intrigue¹²⁰ and insulting treatment, ten gold coins; nor again (does he have the power) to leave her father, Aron, because it has been thus agreed and settled by persuasion. And having been asked (if they consented to this agreement), they agreed (that they did).

I, Aurelius Asep, the above-mentioned, have agreed to all the things that have been written as is set out above.

I, Aurelius Aron, son of Kounias, have agreed to all the things that have been written as is set out above.

I, Aurelius Ammonios, priest, have written on their behalf as they are illiterate.

The only other surviving fourth-century contract, dated 363, is very lacunose, but appears to be more conventional. The groom, Aurelius Leontios, acknowledges to Flavius Tiambos, a veteran, that he has received a dowry (whose contents are enumerated) on behalf of Tiambos' daughter Mamoukia. The respective duties of the couple are set out: he is to provide all neces­sities and clothing to her; she is to keep herself blameless and without accusation in her way of life (the so-called “moral clause,” cf. BGU IV. 1050 above). There follow provisions for the immediate return of the dowry to Mamoukia or her father in the event of a separation (cf. P.Oxy. X.1273 above), but the rest is too fragmentary to read.¹²¹ One Greek marriage contract is known from the late fifth century, from Oxyrhynchus, but it is very fragmentary (and beyond the chronological limits of this book).¹²²

In addition to the handful of Greek marriage contracts from this period found in Egypt, there is also a ketubah (Jewish marriage contract) from Antinoopolis, dated 417. It is in Aramaic and Greek, but written in Hebrew characters. It shows the traditions both of the ketubat of Palestinian Judaism and of Greco-Egyptian contracts. Samuel declares he is taking Metra to wife, and Metra's duties as wife are laid out (as in the Greek synkhoresis from Alexandria above and in later Byzantine contracts). The dowry items (given by Metra's mother) are described, followed by the bride-gift given by Samuel (which is transliterated from the Greek term hedna). The dowry items indicate that the social class of the couple was quite modest.¹²³