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Julia Paula
– Roman Empress & First wife of Emperor
Elagabalus
–
Bronze As 25mm (9.10 grams) Rome mint: 219-220 A.D.
Reference: RIC 387; C 15
IVLIA PAVLA AVG, draped bust right.
CONCORDIA AETERNA, Elagabalus and Julia Paula facing each other in front of
Concordia and clasping hands; in exergue, S C.
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Marriage in ancient Rome had mythical beginnings, starting with the
abduction of the Sabine Women
.
Romulus
and his band of male immigrants were
rejected conubium, the legal right to intermarriage, from the
Sabines.
According to
Livy,
Romulus
and his men abducted the Sabine
maidens, but promised them an honorable marriage, in which they would enjoy the
benefits of property, citizenship, and children. These three benefits seem to
define the purpose of marriage in ancient Rome.
The word matrimonium, the root for our own word for
marriage,
matrimony, defines the institution’s main function. Involving the mater (mother),
it carries with it the implication of the man taking to woman in marriage to
have children. It is the idea conventionally shared by Romans as to the purpose
of marriage, which would be to produce
legitimate children
; citizens producing new
citizens.
Consortium is a word used for the sharing of property, usually
used in a technical sense for the property held by heirs, but could also be used
in the context of marriage. Such usage was commonly seen in
Christian
writings. However, the sharing of water and fire (aquae et ignis
communiciatio) was symbolically more important. It refers to the sharing of
natural resources. Worldly possessions transferred automatically from the wife
to the husband in archaic times, whereas the classical marriage kept the wife’s
property separate.
In order for the union of a man and woman to be legitimate, there needed to
be consent legally and morally. Both parties had to be willing and intend to
marry, and both needed their fathers’ consent. If all other legal conditions
were met, a marriage was made.
Conventions
of Roman Marriage
The lives of elite Roman women were essentially determined by their
marriages. We are best informed about families with both wealth and political
standing, whose largely inherited money would follow both their sons and their
daughters. In the earliest periods of Roman history,
Manus Marriage
meant that a married woman would
be subjugated by her husband, but that custom had died out by the 1st century
BCE, in favor of Free Marriage which did not grant a husband any rights over his
wife or have any changing effect on a woman’s status.
Elite young men would usually marry in their mid-twenties, after a year or
more of
military service and some initial experience attending cases and even
pleading in the criminal or civil courts. Their brides, however, would be
markedly younger women, between fifteen and twenty years of age. This was in
part because the family felt no need to retain the daughter at home in order to
give her a full education, and partly from fear that once into the flush of
adolescence the girl might throw away her virginity or lose the reputation for
chastity, which was a prerequisite for marriage. So betrothal tended to follow
as soon as possible after puberty, even when the girl’s physique suggested
postponement of consummation in marriage, because she seemed insufficiently
developed to carry a healthy pregnancy or survive the high risks of childbirth.
The young wife would learn some of the complexities of running a large household
by observing her mother, and her training would be supplemented by the
slave staff
of her new household.
The more prominent her family, the less it was likely that the girl would
have much choice in the age, appearance or character of her first husband.
Through high status marriages (even imperial ones), women were able to gain
associative power from their husbands’ prominent positions in society. Women who
gained power in this way could even then legitimize the power positions of their
sons (such as with Livia
and
Tiberius)
as their symbolic status influenced Roman society.
While upper class girls married very young, there is evidence that lower
class women –
plebeians
, freedwomen etc. – often married in
their late teens or early twenties. Women were not seen as likely to marry after
thirty. Marriage for them was not about economic or political gain, so it was
not as urgent.
In a sense, the lives of all women in
antiquity
were defined around their expectation
and achievement of marriage: first as young girls, then as wives and, if all
went well, as mothers. In their later years, it was statistically probable that
they would survive their husbands and live as
widows
. From day to day, on a larger scale,
their obligations and opportunities depended on the man or men to whom they were
married.
Patria
Potestas
Fathers of legitimate children alone had
patria potestas
over their children. Patria
potestas was the lifelong subjugation of a child to his or her father’s will
and, to the horror of the Greeks and other outside observers of the time,
applied to sons as much as daughters.[citation
needed]
A man or woman whose legitimate father was still alive required his consent
for marriage. No paternal consent was required for illegitimate children or
those whose fathers had died. This gave the father of legitimate children a very
substantial say in at least the first marriage of his children. He had no right
to prevent a divorce by one of his children. Though a father could deny the
right to marriage by refusing a prospective son- or daughter-in-law, he could
not legally force his children into marriage.
Engagement
and Ceremony
The nuptiae was often begun with a celebration, combining legal,
religious, and social features. It brings the two households together, new
property is introduced, and there is the underlying promise of children. The
wedding ceremony no doubt included various customs and religious rites, but it
cannot be assumed such rituals were static or widespread throughout the
centuries.
The typical upperclass wedding in the classical period tended to be a lavish
affair. The expense of the wedding was normally the bride’s family’s
responsibility. The day was carefully chosen, with all sorts of religious
reasons as to why certain days should be avoided. Gifts were given to family and
friends, and sometimes the bride
and
groom
exchanged presents of money before the
wedding. On the wedding day, the bride went with a procession to her new home,
while the bridegroom went ahead of the bride to receive her. With her, the bride
brought a torch lit from her family’s hearth, and was offered another torch and
water, symbolizing the aquae et ignis communicatio. She was then carried
over the threshold by her attendants, not her husband. The words “Ubi tu Gaius,
ego Gaia” may have been exchanged at this point. The actual consummation of the
marriage took place in the bedroom, supposedly in the dark. The day after the
wedding, the groom would hold a dinner party at his house, and it was at this
time that the bride made an offering to the gods of her new home. All of this
was part of publicizing the marriage.
The verbal consent between the bride and groom fulfilled the legal
expectations, the sharing of the water and fire and, perhaps, the clasping of
their right hands (dextrarum iunctio), the religious, and the actual
ceremony and celebration fulfilled the social.
Dowry
One of the most important aspects of the practical and business-like
arrangement of Roman marriage was the
dowry.
The dowry was a contribution made by the wife’s family to the husband to cover
the expenses of the household. It was more customary than compulsory. Ancient
papyrus
texts show that dowries typically included land and slaves but could also
include
jewelry
,
toilet articles
(used to make women more
attractive, such as
mirrors
), and clothing. These items were
connected with legacy and if the wife died early in the marriage, the dowry
could be returned to her family and buried with her to give a more elaborate
burial than was typical for the time, however that was not always the case.[citation
needed]
The dowry was also how Roman families maintained their social status relative
to each other. It was important to ensure that upon the end of a marriage, the
dowry was returned to either the wife or her family. This was done in order to
improve her chances of remarriage as well as to maintain the family resources.
In ancient Rome, the dowry became the husband’s full legal property. In
actuality, however, the purpose of the dowry often affected the husband’s
freedom to use the dowry. For example, if the dowry was given to help in the
maintenance of the wife, or if a legal provision was made for the wife or her
family to reclaim the dowry should the marriage dissolve, the husband was
restricted as to how he could make use of the dowry.
The fate of the dowry at the end of a marriage depended on its original
source. A dowry of dos recepticia was one in which agreements were made
in advance about its disposal. The agreement made beforehand determined how this
dowry would be recovered. One of dos profecticia was a dowry given by the
father of the bride. This type of dowry could be recovered by the donor or by a
divorced daughter if her
pater
died. A dowry of dos adventicia
was given by the daughter herself, though it came from her pater. This
dowry usually came in non-traditional forms, for example, in lieu of a debt
settlement, instead of being given as a direct charge on the pater’s
estate. The wife usually recovered this dowry. However, if she died, the husband
retained this dowry.
Old
Age and Marriage
The evidence for rules of age in Augustus’ marriage legislation will be
applied to the information we have in regard to the age of
menopause
in women in
classical times
, and similarly the age up to
which males were considered capable of fathering children. Under the terms of
the lex Iulia, unmarried persons, caelibes (unmarried as defined
by laws), were incapable of taking either inheritances or legacies. Married
persons who had no children, orbi, could take no more than one-half of
either inheritances or legacies. Originally, this basic principle seems to have
applied only to those of a certain age, namely to men between the ages of 25 and
59 years, and to women of 20 to 49 years of age. Apart from questions of age,
others were also exempted from the limitations imposed on the capacity to
inherit, namely relatives, cognati, to the sixth (and in certain
cases to the seventh) degree, as well as those in the manus or
potestas
of such relatives. Under the Augustan legislation a husband and wife could enjoy
complete capacity to inherit if, apart from the rules of age, they were
otherwise related to within the sixth degree, or the husband was absent for a
certain period of time (a temporary privilege), or the couple had a living
communis child or a certain number of children who had survived to certain
ages, or they had otherwise been granted the ius liberorum. If the
married couple could not claim under any of these conditions, then they were
normally capable of taking only one-tenth of the estate of the other.
Adultery
and Julian Marriage Laws
In 18 BC, the
Emperor Augustus
turned his attention to social
problems at Rome. Extravagance and
adultery
were widespread. Among the upper classes, marriage was increasingly infrequent
and many couples who did marry failed to produce offspring. Augustus, who hoped
to thereby elevate both morals and the numbers of upper classes in Rome and to
increase the population of native Italians in
Italy,
enacted laws to encourage marriage and having children, including provisions
establishing adultery as a crime. The
law
against adultery made the offence a crime
punishable by exile
and confiscation of property. Augustus
assessed heavier taxes on unmarried men and women without husbands, and by
contrast offered awards for marriage and childbearing.
The Augustan adultery law permitted a father to kill his daughter and her
adulterer only if he caught them in his own domus (house) or that of the
daughter’s husband and the husband can kill an adulterer of low status if
discovered in the husband’s house. The language of pollution and violation
underlines the sacred nature of the domus and the honorable duty to
protect it.
Less serious offenses than adultery and
rape
could diminish the honor of the household. Domus in the sense of human
households, as well as physical house was a focus of honor for Romans: the honor
of the pater familias (father of the family) depended on his ability to
protect his household, and in turn the virtue of the household contributed to
his prestige. Augustus himself was obliged to invoke the law against his own
daughter,
Julia
, and relegated her to the island of
Pandateria
.
The
Augustan social
laws were badly received and
were modified in AD 9 by the
Lex Papia Poppaea, named after the two bachelor consuls of that
year. The earlier and later laws are often referred to in juristic sources as
the lex Julia et Papia. In part as a result of Christian opposition to
such policies, the laws were eventually nearly all repealed or fell into disuse
under
Constantine
and later emperors, including
Justinian
.
Divorce
Divorce
from Manus Marriage
Divorce, like marriage, changed and evolved throughout Roman history. As the
centuries passed and ancient Rome became more diversified, the laws and customs
of divorce also changed and became more diversified to include the customs and
beliefs of all the different people. Divorce had always been a common occurrence
in Rome and from the beginning of ancient law in Rome men have always had the
possibility of divorcing their wives. Although this custom was usually reserved
for serious marital faults, such as adultery, making copies of the household
keys, consuming wine, or infertility
, it could be employed by a husband
at any time. For many centuries only husbands had this privilege but wives were
finally included in this process and given permission to divorce their husbands
as Rome entered into the classical age.
Since marriage was often used as a political tool in ancient Rome, especially
in the upper classes, divorces were common when new political opportunities
presented themselves. Anytime a new opportunity arouse, a man or woman would
divorce their current spouse and marry a new one. A man or woman could form
valuable family ties through their various marriages and divorces to different
families. A motivated man or woman might marry and divorce a couple times in
their lifetime if they thought it to their advantage.
One of the main reasons for divorce, besides serious marital fault, was a
desire to no longer remain married to a spouse. Since one of the defining
characteristics of marriage was a will to be married and an attitude of
regarding one another as husband or wife, the marriage ended when the will or
attitude ended. A husband or wife would notify their spouse that they no longer
desired to be married and the marriage would end. It is interesting to note that
only one spouse’s will was required for a divorce and that a divorce was still
final even if the other spouse did not receive the notice of divorce. All that
mattered was that one spouse wanted it to end, and it ended.
Divorce in ancient Rome was usually a private affair and only the parties
involved were notified of it. A divorce did not have to be recognized or
ratified by the
church
or
state
and no
public record
was kept of a divorce. The lack
of divorce records often led to some confusion with the numerous marriages and
divorces going on.
One of the main components of a marriage was the exchange of the dowry
between the husband and the wife or the wife’s guardian. This would sometimes
lead to disputes when the marriage ended because both parties wanted to claim
the dowry. It became an established custom that if the wife were not at fault
for the ending of the marriage, then she was able to reclaim her dowry. This
would often happen if the husband had committed offenses during the marriage,
such as adultery. Since either a husband or a wife could initiate a divorce, it
became understood that if the wife wanted the divorce and there were children
involved, then a husband could have some claim on the dowry based on the
children.
Divorce
from Free Marriage
The Manus Marriage custom ended in the 1st century BCE and the Free Marriage
divorce emerged. With this, the reasons for any divorce became irrelevant.
Either spouse could leave a marriage at any point. Property during a marriage
was kept separate under Roman Law, and this left only the dowry in common. In
cases of adultery, husbands got to keep a portion of the dowry, but without the
involvement of adultery women would take most if not all of their dowry with
them, as well as their personal property. However, the woman had to get
permission from the government to have a divorce while the man could simply just
kick the woman out of the house.
Remarriage
and Widowhood
Remarriage was very common in ancient Rome society and many men and women
were usually married at least twice in their lifetimes. This is due to the fact
that there was a high
infant mortality rate
, high
death rate
, and low average
life expectancy in ancient Rome. Men and women did not live very
long. This high mortality rate plus the high
divorce rate
, common in ancient Rome, lead to
many instances of remarriage. Since children were expected in marriage, each
spouse usually brought at least one child to the new marriage. Remarriages thus
created a new blending of the family in ancient Roman society, where children
were influenced by
stepparents
and some instances where
stepmothers
were younger than their
stepchildren
.
Most wives were encouraged to remarry after either the death of the husband
or a divorce. Ancient
physicians
believed that a woman was liable to
get very sick if she was deprived of
sexual activity
and it could even lead to a
woman getting ‘’hysteric uterine constriction.’’ There was even legislation
passed during the rule of Augustus that required widows and widowers to remarry
to be able to fully inherit from people outside of their immediate family.
In
Roman religion
, Concord (Latin:
Concordia, “harmony”) was the
goddess of agreement, understanding, and marital harmony. Her Greek version is
Harmonia
, and the Harmonians and some
Discordians
equate her with
Aneris
. Her opposite is Discordia (or the Greek
Eris
).The
cult of Concordia
Augusta
(“Majestic Harmony”) was of special importance to the
imperial household
. Dedicatory inscriptions to her, on behalf of emperors
and members of the imperial family, were common. The oldest
Temple of Concord
, built in
367 BC
by
Marcus Furius Camillus
, stood on the
Roman
Forum
. Other temples and shrines in Rome dedicated to Concordia were largely
geographically related to the main temple.
Julia Cornelia Paula or Julia Paula
was a distinguished, Roman noble woman who lived in the 3rd century. Paula was a
member of the
Cornelius (gens)
of ancient Rome. She was a Syrian woman of Roman descent
and her family was a distinguished family from
Syria
. Paula’s
father, Julius Cornelius Paulus was a prefect of the
Praetorian Guard
in Rome
; however, his ancestry is not known. Paula was well educated and was a
charming person.
In 219,
Julia
Maesa
(eldest sister of Roman Empress
Julia
Domna
), had arranged for Julia Cornelia Paula to marry her grandson, Rome’s
new emperor Elagabalus
. Their wedding ceremony was a lavish ceremony that occurred in
Rome. Paula became a Roman empress, as Elagabalus’ first wife and was given the
honorific title of Augusta.
In early 220, Elagabalus ended his marriage to Paula. They
had no children. Elagabalus divorced Paula to marry the
Vestal Virgin
Julia
Aquilia Severa
. His marriage to Severa was considered as scandalous because
she was still a Vestal. Apart from falling in love with Severa, Elagabalus
married Severa as apart of the religious process of worshipping the Syrian Sun
God El-Gabal and integrating El-Gabal into Roman religion.
After the divorce, Elagabalus removed Paula’s Augusta title.
She withdrew from public life and her fate afterwards is unknown.
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