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EPISODE TWO:

MARRIAGE

In today's episode...

Welcome to the second instalment of the Agora Gossip podcast! Today’s episode is all about marriage. We will be looking at what constituted a marriage, the social and political gains that could be achieved from them, and identifying how important marriages were for the development of Athenian society. 

 

However, probably the most important question we will answer is…why did people get married? It might not be for the reasons you initially think!

 

If you want to hear more about this, then press play and listen to the second episode of Agora Gossip!

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Episode TwoAgora Gossip
00:00 / 11:52

PODCAST CREDITS

Host 

Freya Betts

Thumbnail 

Cloud images - Sir Aqui 

Border/temple/leaves - Canva

Music

All music was found on Pixabay

In Horto - theromancrow

Ancient Legend - SergePavkinMusic

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Here is a list of works I consulted when making this episode. Feel free to check them out to further your knowledge!

Primary sources 

  • Aristotle, Politics, 1.1253b, trans. by H. Rackham (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1944) in Perseus Digital Library <https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/> [accessed 23 August 2025].

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  • Demosthenes, Against Leptines, 20.57, trans. by C. A. Vince and J. H. Vince (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1926) in Perseus Digital Library <https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/> [accessed 23 August 2025].

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  • Demosthenes, Against Neaera, 59.122, trans. by Norman W. DeWitt and Norman J. DeWitt (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1949) in Perseus Digital Library <https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/> [accessed 23 August 2025].

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  • Demosthenes, Against Neaera, 59.113, trans. by Norman W. DeWitt and Norman J. DeWitt (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1949) in Perseus Digital Library <https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/> [accessed 23 August 2025].

Secondary literature

  • Cheryl, Cox, ‘Women and Property in Ancient Athens: A Discussion of the Private Orations and Menander’, in Women and Property in Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean Studies, ed. Deborah Lyons and Raymond Westbrook (Center for Hellenic Studies), 1-155.

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  • Cox, Cheryl A., ‘Marriage in Ancient Athens’, in A Companion to Families in Greek and Roman Worlds, ed. by Beryl Rawson (Chichester: Blackwell Publishing, 2011). pp. 27-41.

  • Foxhall, Lin, ‘Household, Gender and Property in Classical Athens’, Classical Quarterly, 39:1 (1989), 22-44.

  • Glazebrook, Allison and Kelly Olson, ‘Greek and Roman Marriage’, in A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities, ed. by Thomas K. Hubbard (Chichester: Blackwell Publishing, 2014). pp. 73-86.

  • Ingalls, Wayne, ‘Demography and Doweries: Perspectives on Female Infanticide in Classical Greece’, Phoenix, 56:3/4 (2002), 246-254.

  • Leese, Michael, ‘An Economic Perspective on Marriage Alliances in Ancient Greece’, in Ancient Law, Ancient Society, ed. by Dennis P. Kehoe and Thomas A. J. McGinn (Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2017). pp. 32-45.

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  • Littman, Robert J., ‘Kinship in Athens’, Ancient Society, 10 (1979), 5-31.

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  • Patterson, Cynthia B., The Family in Greek History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998).

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  • Pomeroy, Sarah, Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity (New York: Shocken Books, 1995).

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  • Robson, James, Sex and Sexuality in Classical Athens (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2013).

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