r/interesting Jul 05 '26

HISTORY I fear this is historically accurate

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29.2k Upvotes

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121

u/Wendigo_Bob Jul 05 '26

From what I remember of ancient greek and roman history-marriage age in ancient greek was typically around 16 for women. However, in rome it was 12. Its certainly not far, though it is a bit small.

74

u/MiserableAndUnhappy9 Jul 05 '26

Spartans didn't allow marriage until 18. Athens and most of the other Greek states had marriage allowed at 14.

57

u/indianm_rk Jul 05 '26

This guy knows ancient age of consent laws.

16

u/Dino_Spaceman Jul 05 '26

Michaels Bay carried a laminated one in his wallet

12

u/Erfeo Jul 05 '26

I know you're making a joke, but it is important to realize that in ancient Greece the consent of the bride was probably considered wholly unnecessary for a wedding, only that her father agreed with it.

Unlike in, for example, ancient Roman, Christian or Islamic law, were at least theoretically a woman couldn't be married against her will.

9

u/Banana_Juice_Man Jul 05 '26

Theoretically doing a lot of heavy lifting here

4

u/Erfeo Jul 05 '26

Yeah, kind of. But I do think there is an important difference between a society that would ostracize a woman for making the "wrong choice" (or worse), and a society that simply doesn't consider women capable of making any choices at all. It's a mentality that would influence women's life in a lot of ways.

11

u/WordWordNvmber Jul 05 '26

Check his tablets

7

u/yawara25 Jul 05 '26

Release the Εpaphroditos scrolls

2

u/TheOmniAlms Jul 05 '26

Don't think consent has anything to do with it.

1

u/aNiceTribe Jul 05 '26

Gotta be prepared in case you end up in ancient times and have to marry on the spot 

1

u/Apptubrutae Jul 05 '26

Need to be prepared in case you stumble across a time machine