Sappho Speaks: "The Real History of Marriage – Where is the Sanctity? - Part One"

What Would Sappho Say?

Lectori Salutem! or L.S. (Greetings to the Reader!)

Before you read this know I am a great supporter of the institution of marriage as I grew up in a family of only a few divorces (I can count on one hand) among my immediate family, all my cousins and second cousins, aunts and uncles and that is at least 100 people. Did I mention they are all they embodiment of love? Oh, and this will be a three part-er so as not to be overwhelmingly long.

PART ONE

I hate to get into this so soon but the political side in me is just dying to get out and I just want to set the record straight for all those Christian Conservatives that won’t be reading my blog but you guys might run into from time to time. So let’s take a look at the perpetuated lie the GAY MARRIAGE will ruin the sanctity of marriage that has been going on for at least the last 2009 years since the birth of Jesus Christ, the savior. I’ll take our little lesson for today back a little bit further just to really make the messages about the origins of marriage in civilized society perfectly clear. I guarantee the length of this blog will be well worth the read as you will have facts to throw at your anti-marriage family, friends and acquaintances that will tear their arguments to shreds!!!! SO I BEG YOU TO STAY WITH MY HISTORY LESSON AND PASS IT ON TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS (as I hope you do all my blogs). KNOWLEDGE IS POWER MY SAPPHIC SISTERS AND WELCOME READERS.

We’ll start first with the Religious Right’s core belief that came to fruition under George W. under the guise of DOMA – the Defense of Marriage Act. The law denies federal recognition of same-sex "marriage" and gives states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Obama has pledged to work to repeal the law. Their righteousness for fighting for this law was that by allowing gays and lesbians equal rights of married individuals under the law would destroy the very fabric of the sanctity of marriage which has been based on a one man, one woman policy for the means or procreation in God’s image as He intended things to be. Since homosexuals could not procreate and certainly were not included in this holy sacrament bestowed by the church, they were simply out to kill 3000 years of marital law and the bond that held the family unit together.


Did anyone but me start to remember back to those history lessons in high school and remember a little something about the buying and selling of wives as property? I mean, it still goes on today in some countries and we migrated from that direction so the origins of matrimony might not have been so HOLY after all. In fact, well before Christ, (we’ll just go back as far as the Greeks to prove a point) love was a many splendored and manly thing. That is, men took mates with each other most commonly and a bride was simply used as a way to secure property or stature in the community. If a woman’s father died with no male heirs and that child was already married, she could and often would be forced into a divorce and submitted to marriage of her closest male heir to keep the property in the family. Love was not a concern in these times between a man and his wife. It was a contract to keep or increase the status quo of the joining families.

The Romans really turned up the charm by adding wife-swapping for political gain. A perfect example is someone many of you may remember from Dante’s Divine Comedy. As the greeter of souls in purgatory in the novels, Cato the Younger from the 1st century BC has stood the test of time as an ethical, stubborn, tenacious man with moral integrity in all areas MEN. His story of his marriages is neither unique nor emotional as was customary for the period. Initially, Cato had his sights on a well-bred, aristocratic woman (can anyone say horse?) but unfortunately her father had already entered into a contract with another man’s father. He would have to find another specimen.

He did and married a woman named Atilia that passed his criteria of status and breeding and they went about the business of producing heirs – a male heir to be exact to carry on the father’s precise name. A few years and two children later, a son and the wife of the famous “Et tu, Brute,” Brutus, that assassinated Julius Ceasar, Cato divorced her for unseemly behavior. Yes, I said unseemly behavior. He remarried a woman named Marcia and had a few more children with her over the next years. One of his good friends and colleagues inquired about marrying his daughter years later as he wanted to be better connected politically to the Cato clan.

Cato, seeing this man as 30 years older than his daughter and his daughter already married to a convenient political ally (not that having her divorce and remarry wasn’t frequent), he decided since his wife Marcia had already bore him children, he would offer her to his companion and friend. They divorced and the marriage lasted until Cato’s friend died at which time Marcia returned to Cato and scholars disagree as to whether Cato and Marcia remarried or not. This, however, was the great sanctity of marriage in the Roman times that continued AFTER JESUS into the early Christian movement until approximately the 6th century, AD.

Thus, ends part one. Stay tuned for the early Christian era.

Much Love.


Inspired By Sappho’s Muse

MUSIC OF THE DAY
Since this blog is so long, I’ll just let the music speak for itself.

At Seventeen    Janis Ian
Galileo             Indigo Girls

QUOTE OF THE DAY
Marriage is a wonderful institution...but who wants to live in an institution?
Groucho Marx