How Did Marriage Develop in the West

Another ancient institution with us today is marriage. While many think marriage is a natural state in human societies, the reality is its history is complex in its early development and the fact we see multiple types of marriage systems, including monogamous and polygamous marriages, indicates different developments around the world. Marriage systems have often been related to the development of land, property, and other assets, as marriage also relates to inheritance and establishing the future for households. In Western regions, this is no different, although over time, for most of our history over the last two thousand years, marriage had become more narrowly defined than it initially was.

Origins of Marriage

It is not clear when exactly marriage became part of normal human social behavior. In early evolution of modern humans, it is likely, although not certain, that bands formed revolved around family relationships where there was one dominant male and one or more females that were partners with the male. What is clear is that marriage today is universal in every type of society, including hunter-gatherers. This suggests that it is something that developed long ago in our history. However, it is also clear that its evolution is complex. Studies do not always agree, but early marriage may have included polygamous, usually polygyny relationships often conducted by a more dominant male, and monogamous for most other relationships. Using modern hunter-gatherer groups, arranged marriages are among the most common, where the bride and groom are exchanged. Marriage serves to regulate not only sexual behavior, in a socially acceptable format, but it also seems to serve as a way for bands and groups to introduce new wives and males and thus allow small groups to more diversify their genetic makeup, including avoiding diseases. Marriages were also used to make agreements and as a way to resolve conflict.

While in early evolution there is evidence polygamous relationships may have been more common, by the time societies began to settle and farm in the Near East and eventually in Europe in the Neolithic, we begin to get more information and indication of marriage patterns through household remains and then later, with writing, historical data. Polygamy appears to still be fairly common in societies in the Near East and Europe even well into the Neolithic. One group does begin to appear to show more monogamous patterns, specifically the Proto-Indo-European or Indo-Hittite groups that emerged in Asia and Europe.

In polygamous societies, monogamy still seems the norm; however, polygamy was allowed in Mesopotamia and other Near Eastern states. Laws indicate that polygamy, always being polygany, could occur in cases where the first wife was unable to have children. In fact, the second wife was often one with the status of a slave or secondary, where her role was to provide offspring for the household to continue rather than share in its wealth or future. In fact, it was often the first wife that would help or even be responsible for choosing the second wife. Rulers and elites likely also had polygamous relationships, although the reasons are likely different from more common households. Thus, we see that even in polygamous societies in the Middle East, monogamy started becoming the norm. One suggestion is that monogamy started becoming the norm as agriculture took hold. In this case, property and possessions started becoming important and passing on these possessions to ones offspring became important. Monogamy became relatively easier as it helped make it clear who the parents were and who would inherit property. Polygamy, however, was still useful because it provided a greater possibility for those who could inherit in cases where there were no children. Interestingly, we do not see cases of polyandry, that is a woman marrying multiple men, although there have been known cases in various societies, suggesting it did occur in more limited places.