Renaissance

Near the beginning of the Renaissance Jan van Eyck painted his piece Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride. It is the witnessing of a marriage. From this one small painting we can learn a few things about was was important in a marriage during this times. The fact that there is even a painting portraying the even is significant in that fact that it was important enough to document. This shows that marriage was an important and special event in society in this time. This is also shown by the sandals in the painting which symbolizes a sacred event. Also at the bottom of the painting there is a dog which is a symbol of fidelity and domestic peace. This shows that a husband and wife were expected to be faithful in a marriage and have a peaceful marriage.

Fourteenth Century

Moving into the fourteenth century there is still a heavy influence of the church in all aspects of art and life. While we see still more religion based artwork the exact subjects of the artwork change slightly. In Martini's The Annunciation the subject of the painting is the Virgin Mary. The back ground of the painting is done in gold as well as the hemming of her dress being done in gold. Using such precious materials gives more importance to this painting. during this period the Virgin Mary's role in the church was becoming even more prominent. This transfered into higher regard for women in general during this time even though women still didn't have many rights. Women still weren't considered as equals in marriage during this period but they were thought of more highly than in the earlier medieval centuries.

Gothic

As we move into the Gothic period we still see a lack of mention of marriage in work. There's a lack of even seeing women in artwork from this time. A good example is the Prophets of the Old Testament jamb figures at Chartres Cathedral. Some of the most important prophets of the Old Testament including Melchizedek, Abraham with Isaac, Moses, Samuel, and David. This shows the very patriarchal nature of the Church. This in turn carried into home life and family relationships were very patriarchal. This translated into marriage relationships being dominated by men and the women not being seen as equals. Wives were still seen as inferior and not as important.

Romanesque

During the Romanesque period there was a lack of any works having to deal with marriage. This shows that even though marriage still happened during this period the marriage relationship wasn't an important aspect of life. There was still a carry over from the Early Medieval period when women were seen more as property to be traded in marriage. In the Bayeux Tapestry there is a short part at the beginning of the story in which William offers Harold his daughter in marriage to avoid possible deception. Once again this shows women as property to be traded to help promote peace. Women were not seen as equals in marriage. They were inferior to their husbands and didn't have as many rights as men.

Early Medieval

One of the most famous works from the Early Medieval period is the story of Beowulf. In this story marriage is mentioned as a way of bringing peace between two warring tribes. In this story Beowulf is skeptical of the validity of the use of this tradition. He is validated in his belief when a bride that has been married off runs off to return to her kinsmen. This shows that men and women were not seen as equals in marriage. Men were seen as more important and and superior to their wives. Women were seen more as commodities to be traded to help promote peace, and not as individuals to make their own decisions in who they would marry.

Islam

One of the huge contributions of the Islamic period is the Qur'an to the Muslim religion. The Qur'an covers many of the values that are important to Muslims. These are values that they believe were divine revelation from God through the Prophet Muhammad. In the Qur'an there are many verses that discuss marriage and guidelines for marriage. It is mentioned many times in the Qur'an that the most important thing when finding a spouse is making sure to marry a righteous believer. They also have rules against incest or women that are already married. It also encourages the marriage of single people to help discourage immorality. All the guidelines on marriage shows that marriage was an important part of Islamic life and that everyone was expected to get married under the right circumstances.

Byzantine

During the Byzantine era mosaics in church were very popular. This holds true for the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. In the apse of the church there on mosaics on the north and south wall. On the north wall is a mosaic of the Emperor Justinian and his courtiers and on the south wall is Empress Theodora and retinue. This shows that at least in royal marriage that husband and wife were seen as more equal. They both have their own mosaic on opposing walls and both of the mosaics are relatively the same size. This also shows that the church was a big part of marriage and life during this time since these mosaics are in one of the major churches built during this time.

Early Christian

During the time of the Early Christians they built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church was built over the top of what was believed to be the burial site of Jesus Christ. This creates an indirect link between marriage and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Much of the purpose of this building is to serve to worship Christ because he is the center of the church. While Christ was alive and on the earth he talked about marriage multiple times and used marriage as a metaphor in his parables. This signifies that marriage was an important part of the Early Christian church. This indirectly links the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with marriage. Also in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre there is artwork depicting the Virgin Mary and this helps to signify also how important Early Christians thought is was to enter into marriage being clean and pure.

Rome

In Virgil's Aeneid there is a love story that involves our main character Aeneas and Dido, the queen of Carthage. In the story they fall in love and while on a hunting trip they get separated from the rest of their party in a cave where they end up making love. Dido considers a marriage to have taken place even though no marriage ceremony has been preformed. Once Mercury comes down and talks to Aeneas and gets him back on track to his destiny, Aeneas does not hesitate to choose destiny over a marriage to and staying with Dido. this suggest that there are definitely things in Roman society that are more important than marriage and that includes destiny. this also shows that for the most part sex is something that is seen as something that primarily happens in marriage relationships. We also learn that for a marriage to be considered as having taken place there must be an actual marriage ceremony. Like today there are certain steps that one must take to be considered married in society.

Classical Greece

In the artwork of Classical Greece we don't see husbands and wives together, suggesting that this part of life isn't as important to the people of classical Greece as it has been to other previous cultures. But we do know from Oedipus Rex that marriage was part of life in Classical Greece and there are certain guidelines for what an appropriate marriage is. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus is very distraught when he hears from the oracle that not only will he kill his father but he will also marry his mother. He was determined to make sure that this would not happen so he got as far away from who he thought were his biological parents. When he finds out that he in fact had killed his father and married his mother he was so upset that he gouged his eyes out. This suggest that there were some guidelines to marriage and of these guidelines included not marrying your parents.

Early Greece

A commonly known fact is that the peoples of ancient Greece were polytheistic. They had gods for all the different aspects of life and they often made temples to honor and worship and their god. Some of the temples withstood the tests of time and one of these was in the Temple of Hera. Hera we have learned is the goddess of women and marriage. This means that women and marriage held some importance in the society of the early Greeks because they built such a large temple out of lasting material. If women and marriage held absolutely no importance to Greek society then they wouldn't have built a temple for the goddess of women and marriage.

Egypt

During the time that Akhenaton was ruling Egypt their was a stone relief made of him, his wife Nefertiti, and three of their children. Marriage often leads to the creating of families and it was obviously a big part of Egyptian life, at least to Akhenaton, since there is a stone relief depicting his family. One of the very noticeable things in this artwork is the hierarchy of scale. Hierarchy of scale was a very popular tool that was used in Egyptian artwork and architecture to help show the importance of different individuals. In Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and Three of Their Children it is very obvious that children are still deem as less important. On the other hand, Nefertiti is shown on the same scale as Akhenaton, implying that she has a more equal role in their marriage.

Ancient Near East

The Law Code of Hammurabi is the piece of work I would like to discuss that comes from the Ancient Near East. In the law Code of Hammurabi there are several laws written that pertain to marriage. Having laws that pertain to marriage means that marriage is an important part of life in the culture of the Babylonians. Husbands are obviously seen as more important because when they commit trespasses in a marriage their punishments are less severe than punishments that the wifes receive for the same crime. But it is also important to take note that the Law Code also does cover rights that wives have in marriage. This is indicative of the fact that wives are not total second class citizens with absolutely no rights. They do have some value in society even if they aren't as highly valued as their husbands.

Humanities 201

So this is my blog I'm starting for my humanities 201 class at BYU. We are expected to keep a theme throughout the semester and one of the formats is blog style so here I am! Seeing as I am getting married in May I figure the appropriate theme for my theme journal would be marriage. Over the course of the semester I will be providing blog entries talking about pieces of work that have to do with marriage. I will be including pieces of work from time periods including:
Ancient Near East
Egypt
Early Greece
Classical Greece
Rome
Early Christian
Byzantine
Islam
Early Medieval
Romanesque
Gothic
Fourteenth Century
Renaissance

I hope everyone is so excited to read my theme journal cause this might be pretty much the only blogging you see me do this semester because I rarely update my other blog.