M
Mintaka
Guest
In Adrian Goldsworthy’s biography of Julius Caesar, Caesar: Life of a Colossus, he mentions that it was common in Rome’s aristocratic families for a man’s first-time betrothed (who would probably have been just a teenager) to be brought into the man’s family home for a year or several years before the wedding. The girl would be trained in the ways of the house and clan by her mother-in-law, and would work for her keep like the daughters of the house, but would still be a member of her own clan who was visiting, and would still have her own dowry. The girl was not to have sex with her prospective husband, but could get to know him, while the whole household got to know her. If the families did not like how things went, the engagement could be broken, but the girl might still be counted as having been the man’s wife, depending on the word used.
At the end of the betrothal, she would go back to her parents’ house to get married from it, and there was a big procession to the groom’s house. (This was where the flame-colored wedding veil came in.)
(Women who were older, had married before, and were non-virginal, did not have this in-house betrothal. They just got married.)
This goes to show how ancient pagan readers might have been more comfortable with this sort of thing, in Luke, than we modern readers are!
At the end of the betrothal, she would go back to her parents’ house to get married from it, and there was a big procession to the groom’s house. (This was where the flame-colored wedding veil came in.)
(Women who were older, had married before, and were non-virginal, did not have this in-house betrothal. They just got married.)
This goes to show how ancient pagan readers might have been more comfortable with this sort of thing, in Luke, than we modern readers are!
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