Ancient Greek Weddings

With wedding season in full swing, what better ancient artefact to look at than this lebes gamikos from Ancient Greece?

It is a very distinctive vessel which is believed to have been a gift for the bride and perhaps used to pour water for the bride’s bath on her wedding day.

Dating to the 4th century BC, the vase is decorated in the red-figure style. On either side, we can see different scenes. On one side, we can see a woman sitting on a rock; on one hand she is balancing a shallow dish. Her wrists are adorned with bracelets and she wears a necklace.

On the opposite side is the winged figure of Eros, the Greek god of love. He is in a similar pose to the woman and holds a mirror in his right hand.

The rest of the vessel is also highly decorated. There are rays on the vessel’s shoulder, palmettes below the handles and a wave motif running around the lid of the vessel and also the bottom of the vessels’ body. Additionally, we can see several flowers surrounding the figures.

Apulian red-figured Lebes Gamikos/Mineral, Clay/4th Century BC Classical Greek, Late Classical Greece/The Hunt Collection/PD

Marriage in Ancient Greece

Marriages in Ancient Greece were not generally based on the premise of love. The purpose was to create political alliances, to ensure that property remained within a family and to produce children. It was common for close relatives such as first cousins or uncles and nieces, to marry.

Marriages were negotiated between the woman’s male guardian (father or brother) and the bridegroom (or bridegroom’s father). They would agree on a dowry, such as money or movable property. The husband would bring the land and house.

The main event of the wedding was a procession in which the married couple rode in a cart or chariot to the bridegroom’s home. Relatives would follow behind on foot, carrying gifts for the couple.

The husband would work outdoors while the wife was expected to perform domestic duties such as cooking, cleaning and weaving textiles to make clothes to wear.

The lack of written evidence from married women from this time means that we don’t really know how they felt about married life. However, this excerpt from a play by Sophocles provides an insight into a woman’s perspective:

“How frequently I’ve thought of women’s nature/In this very regard, how we are nothing…Then suddenly we find ourselves thrust out…Parted from parents… When just one night has joined us to a man,/We have to make believe that all is well.” Sophocles fr. 583 Radt

Sources

Pomeroy, Sarah B., Burnstein, Stanley M., Donlan Walter, Tolbert Roberts, Jennifer, Tandy, David. Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. Oxford University Press. 2012.

Rosiman, Joseph. Historical Sources in Translation: Ancient Greece from Homer to Alexander. Wiley Blackwell. 2011.

The Hunt Museum Essential Guide. Scala Publishers. 2002.