A Quick Guide to Life in Byzantium

[TheFlax]

I'm planning to write another post soon, but I can't decide on what topics. The choices that have caught my attention are the following:

- Grooming and Personal Appearance, Hygiene and Household Medicine
- Sex, Family Planning, Childbirth
- Marriage, Children, The Extended Family

Any suggestions or preferences?

(Zim is supposed to do the social classes eventually )

[deguerra]

Number 3, but only on condition that you do the others as well!

[TheFlax]

I will, I'll do all of them eventually. This is more because I can't decide where to start and to gauge people's opinion on what they would like to read about.

[Privateerkev]

From seeing the posts on the forum I would guess that people would like to read about number 2.

[TheFlax]

((I had already started #3 after Deguerra's reply, so I'll do #2 next.))

Family

Marriage:

The Byzantine family was based on the joining of a man and a woman in a new legal entity. Civil and religious laws reflect the state's interest in maintaining social stability. Marriages could not be contracted between close biological or spiritual relations, which generally extended to the seventh degree of consanguinity. Bethrothals could take place at an early age, sometimes even in infancy. The minimal statutory age for marriage was set at 15 years for boys and 12 or 13 years for girls, but those thresholds were overlooked when convenient. Both sets of parents took a hand in arranging the union, with the mothers assuming an active rôle in planning the wedding and setting up the new household. There were many considerations in negotiating a marriage. Such relationships usually involved members of similar background and social status, and often reflected the parent's interests in forming useful alliances and preserving ancestral property. Chastity was expected, and a midwife might be asked to verify the girl's virginity.

The financial investment of both families took the form of an exchange of money and property. The bride's parents offered a wedding dowry (proika) that was matched by a gift from the family of the groom. In most cases the dowry included the practical necessities for setting up the new househod, such as the woman's personal trousseau, with linens, furnitures, and domestic ustensils. More importantly, the dowry fonctionned as long-term insurance against financial troubles for the couple and any future children. Depending on the family's status, this might include land, houses, shops, jewelry, or other tangible assets that could not be easily squandered. Village families contributed gardens, orchards, wooded groves, and livestock. Details were negociated before the wedding and spelled out in a written contract signed by both parties. Even families of modest means provided a dowry for their daughters. A respectable marriage was nearly impossible without one.

The wedding day was a defining moment in the lives of most people. The bride underwent an elaborate process of bathing and dressing before receiving the groom in the home of her parents. The couple formalized their marriage with the clasping of hands and the exchange of rings and other jewelry. Several well-know gold rings carry a brief inscription invoking the blessing of peaceful harmony (concordia or homonoia) on the new couple; others depict the husband and wife joined by Christ. Such formalities were followed by a noisy procession to the couple's new house, where family and friends celebrated through the night with feasting, singing, and dancing. More elaborate wedding ceremonies developped over time. By the tenth century marriages were being sanctified by a priest, usually in a church. Later weddings continued to involve the joining of hands, exchange of rings, and sacramental crowning of the couple. They were invariably accompanied by celebrations at home.

Marriage brought the new wife certain protections. Medieval divorce was restricted to circonstance like female adultery, leprosy, murderous assault, or male impotence. Byzantine law characteristically recognized adultery and madness as grounds for seperation only on the part of the wife. In case of annulement or divorce the man kept his wedding gift while the woman retained her dowry. Upon the death of the husband the family's assets were assigned to the widow, who was responsible for raising and arranging marriages for her children. A young divorced woman might feel pressured by her neighbors to take a second husband, but for an older widow remaining single had clear advantages: neither virgin nor spouse, she stood outside normative expectations of women. Widowhood, moreover, often brought financial independance, with new opportunities to support the church and its charitable activities. In the case of remarriage the woman retained her dowry and wedding gift, with the rest of the estate reverting to the husband's family. If there were older children the estate was divided between them and the widow. Subsequent marriages were discouraged with lesser or greater force by civil and canon law. After the Tenth century it was illegal to marry yourself a third time.

Children:

Bearing and raising children were essential parts of Byzantine family life. No household was considered complete without children, preferably boys, and infertility was seen as cause for shame. Childless couples might seek out holy men or women, pray certain saints, or pursue folk remedies when trying to conceive a male child. Pregnant mothers were particularly vulnerable to Gylou, a much-feared female demon believed to cause miscarriages or stillbirths. The state's interest in reproduction is clear from the legal protection it granted to children. The use of contraceptives was discouraged by the church, and abortion was denounced as an offense against the husband. While unwanted children had been routinely given away or abandonned in earlier times, Byzantine tradition condemned both pratices. In the case of second marriages the adption of stepchildren was requiered.

Birth and christening brought much celebrating. Nearly all children were born at home with the assistance of a family member, nieghbor, or midwife. Within the first week the infant was taken to a local church to be baptized and named by a priest. Naming traditions changed over time. Children often were called after parents, grandparents, or other family members. During the medieval period it was common to name a child after the saint on whose feast day he or she was born. John, Peter, Paul, Demetrius, George, Nicholas and Theodore were frequently used for boysl Anna, Chryse, Eleni, Kale, Maria, Zoe, and derivative names like Georgia, Ioanno, Theodora, and Theophano were common among girls. The imperial family helped popularize such names as Alexios, Basil, Constantine, Leo, and Manuel. Distinctive family names based on a trade or place of origin became widespread in the late period. These usually but not always came from the father's side.

The mother invariably took charge of raising and educating her children, emphasizing basic communication skills and proper behavior. At the age of six or seven most boys and some girls were sent during the day to study reading and writing with a tutor (didaskalos) outside the home. Bethrothals might be contracted between neighboring families at an early age, especially when significant amounts of property were involved. Most children had married and left their parents' home before turning 20.

The Extended Family:

The nuclear family was the heart of the Byzantine household. (oikos). Around this was a network of other relatives who visited regularly even if not actually residing under the same roof. Grandparents took an active interest in the welfare of parents and children. Uncles and aunts were frequent guests in the home, as were their own children. Most members of this extended family spent their lives in the same village, town, or valley.

Adoptive godparents were a special part of the extended family. At the time of baptism the parent identified an adult sponsor to look after their child's spiritual interests and upbringing. This could be either a man or a woman; he or she might be a relative or come from another family. The choice of a godparent was influenced by any number of practical concerns, including the desire to build alliances with neighbors or business associates. Either way, the new relationship represented a significant expansion of the family and created a bond of supportive friendship and coparenthood (synteknia) among the adults. The godparents had different but equally important responsabilities: to watch out for the youngster's well-being, to provide religious instruction and counseling, and to offer life-long moral guidance. If the parents died the godparents assumed full responsibility for raising, educating, and arranging a marriage for the child. This durable institution of adoptive kinship survives in the figure of the koumbaros still found in Greek and Cypriot families.

[TheFlax]

Sex:

Attitudes on sexual matters are not easy to reconstruct. Most writers deferred to religious authority in defining the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Church leaders stressed the importance of chastity and viewed sexuality as an impediment to spiritual growth. Virginity was seen as the ideal human state and an expectation of marriageable girls. Female public dress was help to the same high standard of modesty and included long, flowing clothes and head scarves; the epitome of chaste attire, of course, was the monastic habit. Sexual relation were sanctioned onle between married men and women for the purpose of producing children. Intercourse without the intention of conceiving a child was likened to prostitution. The church mandated that couples refrain from sexual contact on Saturdays, Sundays and during times of Lent. Women were considered impure while menstruating and for 40 days after giving birth; only in life-threatening circomstances could such a woman receive communion. Popular belief held that sexual intercourse during menstruation could produce deformed children.

Of course the reality of human behavior was another matter. Emperors and high court officials were widely known to keep concubines and mistresses, often within the palace itself. Unaccompanied virgins and nuns ran the risk of assault in the streets of Constantinople. Prostitution was prevelant among public entertainers and tavern workers, from the theaters and shops of the capital to remote roadhouses along state highways. Monasteries and churches were not immune from sexual tensions, and administrators went to great lengths to seperate the sexes and protect younger residents. Erotic epigrams, poems, and romances reflect amorous feelings of the period. Writing in sixth-century Constantinople, Peul the Silentiary urges, "Let us throw off these cloaks, my pretty one, and lie naked, knotted in each other's embrace. Let nothing be between us; even that thin tissue you wear seems thick to me as the wall of Babylon." Dream books were used to interpret the complex imagery of supressed longing. Aphrodisiacs, amulets, and magical spells were available to stimulate affection, maintain potency, and supress one's own desire as well as the unwanted advances of others. As with other medieval peoples, the greatest liberties were permitted at opposite social extremes, with sexual licence considered the perogative of elites and the affliction of the lower classes.

The discrepancy between public attitudes and private practice extended also to same-sex relations. These were expected to remain within the bounds of dispassionate friendship (philia). Homosexual relations had been widely tolerated in classical Greek and Roman society, primarily as a temporary association of an older man with a youth. From the beginning the church had strongly condemned such contact. Monastic regulations make clear the widespread suspicion of homosexuality among groups of cloistered men and women, especially when young adults or enuchs were present. Such liaisons ran counter to biblical tradition and posed serious distraction from the individual's spiritual quest. A medieval ceremony acknowledging ritual brotherhood (adelphopoiesis) provided an acceptable framework framework for cultivating close spiritual friendships between friends of the same sex.

Family Planning:

The state encouraged large families, and church leaders forbade almost all methods of preventing pregnancy, yet many parents felt the need to limit the number of children they raised for economic or health reasons. Classical doctors knew contraceptive methods that had long been practiced by women across the Mediterranean. Dioscorides and Galen mention plants that were helpful in preventing pregnancy. The most common of these were asafetida (assa), juniper, pennyroyal, squirting cucumber, and the wild carrot known as Queen Anne's lace. Most of these grew in the wild and could be readily gathered by knowledgeable peasants. Soranus of Ephesus recommends applying astringent, fatty oitments to close the womb before intercourse. Later autorities describe the contraceptive properties of different materials, including olive oil, honey, cedar resin, alum, balsam gum, and white lead. Wool plugs soaked in herbal and miniral preparations were used as vaginal sponges. The sap of the domestic cedar could be applied by men as a contraceptive. Less risky, if generally ineffective, folk measures included observing phases of the moon, the rhythm method, wearing protective amulets (Aetius of Amida recommends one containing a cat's liver), or holding one's breath during intercourse.

The uneven success of contraceptive techniques meant that some women needed to end their pregnancies by other means. Abortion was strongly condemned by leaders of church and state, who did not hesitate to compare it to murder. Official prohibition aside, the hasards of abortion seem to have been well knownand were chanced mainly when there were questions of legitimacy, particularly among unfaithful spouses, entertainers, and prostitutes. Medical writers describe several ways of inducing abortion, which ranged from soaking in hot baths, performing strenuous exercices, and placing a heavy weight on the abdomen to undergoing harrowing surgical procedures. Several authorities list herbal abortifacient that were effective through the third month of pregnancy. Most women may have lacked theoretical knowledge of such matters but knew where to turn in times of need.

The abandonnement of unwanted children was widely know in ancient society and coninued through the Middle Ages. Illegitimacy, health, and poverty were the main reasons for giving up an infant. In most cases the child was not deliberately exposed but left in a public place where he or she could be claimed by others. Inevitably the church came to play a significant role in caring for foundlings. Eastern bishops, emperors, and lay patrons established groups homes for infants (brephotropheia) and older children (orphanotropheia). Municipalasylums like the famous Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence were founded throughout Italy. Orphans who survived might eventually be taken in by foster parents, adopted by lay families, or remain in a monastic setting all their lives. Church leaders and emperors consistently comdemned parent abandonning their children, equating it with murder in legal terms. At the same time their well-meaning institutionalized philantropy may have encouraged the practice.

Childbirth:

Women were the chief facilitators of childbirth. Greek and Roman doctors received some obstetrical training but normally left delivery to the family and a neighborhood midwife. Competent midwifery had a long tradition in the classical world and was seen as a respectable profession for Roman and Byzantine women. Family members prepared for the occasion by providing the woman's bedroom with a supply of warm water, oil, ointments, aromatic herbs, and bandages. Delivery was supposed to take place while the mother lay on a hard bed or sat in a special birthing chair that speeded the process. The midwife helped by providing cervical massage, pressing on the abdomen, and encouraging deep, rythmical breathing. Immediately after birth the infant was washed with water mixed with salt or nitron and swaddled in clean linen cloths. The mother was left to rest on a mattress for a weeklong period of lying-in (locheia). Protective folk traditions, amulets, incense, icons, and prayers all had their place at the time of delivery, yet even routine childbirth presented risks. Comparative data suggest that without the benefits of modern hygiene, maternal mortality may have averaged two to three percent, with levels of neonatal death reaching five to eight percent. Both infant and mother were thought to be especially vulnerable for the first 40 days after childbirth, a period when physical and spiritual threats were believed to be at their peak.