Confarreatio
The confarreatio (dt. Also konfarreierte marriage ) was one of three ways through which in ancient Rome a manus marriage was closed.
Farreus panis
The term Confarreatio is derived from the Latin farreus panis , which the bride and groom sacrificed to Iuppiter farreus during the wedding ceremony . What exactly the farreus panis was about is not entirely clear. Usually, far denotes the type of grain emmer . However, since emmer is not suitable for bread preparation because of its poor stickiness, it is assumed that it was a bread or cake made from Spelt or spelled , which is closely related to Emmer .
After the sacrifices, the bride (according to Christian authors) sat on the Mutunus Tutunus , a stone phallos , with which she symbolically deflowered .
Religious meaning
The marriage was concluded in the presence of 10 witnesses and with the participation of the Pontifex Maximus and the Flemish Dialis . Since these are the two highest priests, it is assumed that the Confarreatio was reserved for members of the upper class. It was a particularly elaborate and solemn form of marriage, which in the end was probably only carried out because of its religious-political significance: Only children from confrontational marriages could become Flemings Dialis or Vestal Virgin . For the chief priests, the flamines maiores , the Confarreatio was prescribed as a form of marriage.
If at one point the marriage was limited to couples whose parents had already been joined by Confarreatio, this could no longer apply at the end of the republic, since Caesar's parents did not get married through Confarreatio, but he married Cornelia Cinnilla .
Diffareatio
The divorce of a confirmed marriage was also possible in a religious ceremony, the so-called diffareatio . Nothing is known about the details of the process. One of Plutarch's Roman questions was why the Flemish Dialis had to resign when his wife died. He mentions as one of the possibilities that certain rituals might require the presence of a spouse. That would mean that the Confarreatio was not only a marriage, but also a joint ordination of the spouses for priestly service in the oldest and most respected cults of Rome.
Plutarch then mentions in passing that the dissolution of such a marriage was only made possible under Domitian , and that the priests performed a series of "terrible, strange and improper" rites to dissolve the Confarreatio .
swell
- Gaius Institutiones 1.109-113
- Catullus carmina 61
literature
- W. Warde Fowler : Confarreatio: A Study of Patrician Usage. In: The Journal of Roman Studies . Vol. 6, 1916, pp. 185-195, doi : 10.2307 / 296271 .
- Gerhard Radke : Observations on the Roman confarreatio. In: Gymnasium . Journal of Ancient Culture and Humanistic Education. Vol. 96, 1989, ISSN 0342-5231 , pp. 209-216.
- Gottfried Schiemann : Confarreatio. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 3, Metzler, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-476-01473-8 , column 122.
- Ingemar König : Vita romana. From daily life in ancient Rome. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2004, ISBN 3-534-17950-1 , pp. 32-40.