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Those about to marry first performed the preliminary rites - sacrifices to Aphrodite, Artemis,and Hera, Uranus and Ge [Heaven and Earth]; the ancestral deities known as the Tritopatores and the city's guardian Athena. Because marriage signalled the girl's coming of age, it was customary for her to offer up her toys and certain items of clothing to one or other of the marriage deities as a dedication. Girls often offered up a curl of their hair or their hairnet, their girdle and other personal items. The bathing of the bride and bridegroom was a central part of the wedding ceremony. It signalled that one phase of their lives had ended and a new one was beginning. Purifying oneself with water before contact with the sacred was an old Greek tradition. The water for the bride bathing came from a special spring in Athens, the Enneakrounos or 'Nine Wells' (Thucydides 2.15,5). The vessel in which the water was carried was called a loutrophoros. Bathing the bride is a commoner subject in vase-painting than bathing the groom, and the scene sometimes shows just the procession to or from the spring. |
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After the bathing, the bride and groom had to dress for the wedding ceremony. It was the girl's parents that decided who should be the 'brideswoman' - the woman with the responsibility for supervising the wedding - and who should be the 'tiring-maid' - the girl who would see to it that the bride was properly dressed and adorned. Getting the bridegroom ready was the less important task of the two. He would wear his himation, some scent, and a crown plaited from sprigs of mint and sesame. (These were two herbs that were strongly symbolic in the context of marriage: sesame represented fertility and mint was an aphrodisiac). On the other hand, great importance was attached to preparing the bride. This is obvious from the number of times the subject is shown on Athenian pots. There are no written Athenian sources attesting to the colour of the bride's dress, and neither can this information be got from vase-painting. We do know, however, from the many pictures that special attention was paid to the bride's sandals - her nymphides. Her veil was put in place over her crown: it covered her face until the moment of unveiling by her husband. |
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The houses of the bride and the groom were decorated with branches of bay and olive to heighten the festive atmosphere. The wedding feast would take place at one of the two houses, and there would usually be a great number of guests. (Throughout the fourth century, however, similar celebrations also took place at shrines, as we know from archaeological data). The wedding banquet was a symposion attended by both men and women. The traditional dish served was a sweetmeat made from sesame seeds and honey. An essential part of the celebrations was singing, and dancing - with men and women in separate groups. |
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After sundown, the bride's father gave the bride away to her husband in front of the guests. This was probably the moment when the 'unveiling' took place, with the bride drawing her veil back from her face. The wedding procession - with torches, singing and dancing - served to see the bride to her new home. The groom would not always take part in the procession, for often he would be waiting in his house for the bride to arrive. A man being married for the second time would send one of his friends, the 'bridebringer' (nymphagogos), to escort the bride. The groom's house would be decorated with ribbons and branches twined with wool (something that was done whenever a household acquired a new member, for example when a new slave had been bought). It was at the hearth, the central point of all domestic rituals, that the bride became a new member of the family. |
In the groom's house, the marriage-chamber (thalamos) was the room that was most elaborately decorated. The bridal bed was scented and beautiful sheets were laid on it. In Classical Athens there was not only the bridal bed but a 'second-best bed' (called paraboustos), for bride or groom to use as desired. Once the couple were inside the chamber, a friend of the groom's closed the door and barred it, while the couple's friends remained outside, singing songs.
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The bride and groom were woken up by their family and friends at first light. This was only the start of the celebrations arranged for the day. One of these was the offering of the wedding-gifts (the epaulia that gave the day its name). These gifts - according to Hesychius - were to the groom as well as to the bride (the archaeological and literary evidence tends to concentrate only on the gifts to the bride). By the end of the day of epaulia, the bride had been properly installed in her new home, and the groom could begin to prepare for his gamelia, the feast given for the members of his brotherhood. The main purpose of this feast was to show the bride how the new household should be run. The various stages of the wedding ceremony are all shown on Classical Attic pots. |
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