1 00:00:07,476 --> 00:00:09,165 There have been many different things 2 00:00:09,165 --> 00:00:11,94 written and said about marriage. 3 00:00:11,95 --> 00:00:13,28 From the sweetly inspirational 4 00:00:13,28 --> 00:00:15,464 to the hilariously cynical. 5 00:00:15,464 --> 00:00:17,344 But what many of them have in common 6 00:00:17,344 --> 00:00:18,999 is that they sound like they express 7 00:00:18,999 --> 00:00:21,46 a universal and timeless truth, 8 00:00:21,46 --> 00:00:23,862 when in fact nearly everything about marriage, 9 00:00:23,862 --> 00:00:25,369 from its main purpose 10 00:00:25,370 --> 00:00:27,578 to the kinds of relationships it covers 11 00:00:27,578 --> 00:00:29,655 to the rights and responsibilities involved, 12 00:00:29,655 --> 00:00:31,677 has varied greatly between different eras, 13 00:00:31,677 --> 00:00:34,597 cultures and social classes. 14 00:00:34,597 --> 00:00:36,151 So, let's take a quick look at 15 00:00:36,151 --> 00:00:38,67 the evolution of marriage. 16 00:00:38,67 --> 00:00:39,652 Pair bonding and raising children 17 00:00:39,652 --> 00:00:41,935 is as old as humanity itself. 18 00:00:41,935 --> 00:00:44,604 With the rise of sedentary agricultural societies 19 00:00:44,604 --> 00:00:46,519 about 10,000 years ago, 20 00:00:46,519 --> 00:00:47,891 marriage was also a way 21 00:00:47,891 --> 00:00:50,122 of securing rights to land and property 22 00:00:50,122 --> 00:00:53,82 by designating children born under certain circumstances 23 00:00:53,82 --> 00:00:55,21 as rightful heirs. 24 00:00:55,21 --> 00:00:57,963 As these societies became larger and more complex, 25 00:00:57,963 --> 00:00:59,880 marriage became not just a matter 26 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:01,634 between individuals and families, 27 00:01:01,634 --> 00:01:03,675 but also an official institution 28 00:01:03,675 --> 00:01:06,722 governed by religious and civil authorities. 29 00:01:06,722 --> 00:01:10,268 And it was already well established by 2100 B.C. 30 00:01:10,268 --> 00:01:12,521 when the earliest surviving written laws 31 00:01:12,521 --> 00:01:15,62 in the Mesopotamian Code of Ur-Nammu 32 00:01:15,62 --> 00:01:17,521 provided many specifics governing marriage, 33 00:01:17,521 --> 00:01:19,19 from punishments for adultery 34 00:01:19,19 --> 00:01:22,771 to the legal status of children born to slaves. 35 00:01:22,771 --> 00:01:25,103 Many ancient civilizations allowed some form of 36 00:01:25,103 --> 00:01:27,491 multiple simultaneous marriage. 37 00:01:27,491 --> 00:01:29,686 And even today, less than a quarter of the world's 38 00:01:29,686 --> 00:01:32,495 hundreds of different cultures prohibit it. 39 00:01:32,495 --> 00:01:34,271 But just because something was allowed 40 00:01:34,271 --> 00:01:36,672 doesn't mean it was always possible. 41 00:01:36,672 --> 00:01:38,212 Demographic realities, 42 00:01:38,212 --> 00:01:40,796 as well as the link between marriage and wealth, 43 00:01:40,796 --> 00:01:42,521 meant that even though rulers and elites 44 00:01:42,521 --> 00:01:43,927 in Ancient Mesopotamia, 45 00:01:43,927 --> 00:01:45,343 Egypt and Israel 46 00:01:45,343 --> 00:01:47,637 had multiple concubines or wives, 47 00:01:47,637 --> 00:01:50,643 most commoners could only afford one or two 48 00:01:50,643 --> 00:01:53,520 tending towards monogamy in practice. 49 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:55,937 In other places, the tables were turned, 50 00:01:55,937 --> 00:01:57,604 and a woman could have multiple husbands 51 00:01:57,604 --> 00:01:59,400 as in the Himalayan Mountains 52 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:00,853 where all brothers in a family 53 00:02:00,853 --> 00:02:02,186 marrying the same woman 54 00:02:02,186 --> 00:02:03,937 kept the small amount of fertile land 55 00:02:03,937 --> 00:02:07,271 from being constantly divided into new households. 56 00:02:07,271 --> 00:02:08,407 Marriages could vary 57 00:02:08,407 --> 00:02:10,351 not only in the number of people they involved 58 00:02:10,351 --> 00:02:12,603 but the types of people as well. 59 00:02:12,604 --> 00:02:14,833 Although the names and laws for such arrangements 60 00:02:14,833 --> 00:02:15,830 may have differed, 61 00:02:15,830 --> 00:02:18,103 publicly recognized same-sex unions 62 00:02:18,103 --> 00:02:19,209 have popped up 63 00:02:19,209 --> 00:02:21,753 in various civilizations throughout history. 64 00:02:21,753 --> 00:02:25,5 Mesopotamian prayers included blessings for such couples, 65 00:02:25,6 --> 00:02:27,604 while Native American Two-Spirit individuals 66 00:02:27,604 --> 00:02:30,306 had relationships with both sexes. 67 00:02:30,306 --> 00:02:32,473 The first instances of such arrangements 68 00:02:32,473 --> 00:02:33,936 actually being called "Marriage" 69 00:02:33,936 --> 00:02:35,58 come from Rome, 70 00:02:35,58 --> 00:02:36,936 where the Emperors Nero and Elagabalus 71 00:02:36,937 --> 00:02:39,520 both married men in public ceremonies 72 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:41,520 with the practice being explictly banned 73 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:43,686 in 342 A.D. 74 00:02:43,686 --> 00:02:45,151 But similar traditions survived 75 00:02:45,151 --> 00:02:46,822 well into the Christian era, 76 00:02:46,822 --> 00:02:48,354 such as Adelphopoiesis, 77 00:02:48,354 --> 00:02:50,854 or "brother-making" in Orthodox churches, 78 00:02:50,854 --> 00:02:53,103 and even an actual marriage between two men 79 00:02:53,103 --> 00:02:57,497 recorded in 1061 at a small chapel in Spain. 80 00:02:57,497 --> 00:02:59,43 Nor was marriage even necessarily 81 00:02:59,43 --> 00:03:01,254 between two living people. 82 00:03:01,254 --> 00:03:02,457 Ghost marriages, 83 00:03:02,457 --> 00:03:04,213 where either the bride or groom were deceased, 84 00:03:04,213 --> 00:03:05,546 were conducted in China 85 00:03:05,546 --> 00:03:07,468 to continue family lineages 86 00:03:07,468 --> 00:03:09,469 or appease restless spirits. 87 00:03:09,469 --> 00:03:13,388 And some tribes in Sudan maintain similar practices. 88 00:03:13,389 --> 00:03:14,807 Despite all these differences, 89 00:03:14,807 --> 00:03:16,434 a lot of marriages throughout history 90 00:03:16,435 --> 00:03:18,896 did have one thing in common. 91 00:03:18,896 --> 00:03:19,853 With crucial matters 92 00:03:19,854 --> 00:03:21,853 like property and reproduction at stake, 93 00:03:21,853 --> 00:03:23,354 they were way too important 94 00:03:23,354 --> 00:03:25,655 to depend on young love. 95 00:03:25,655 --> 00:03:27,520 Especially among the upperclasses, 96 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,824 matches were often made by families or rulers. 97 00:03:30,824 --> 00:03:33,436 But even for commoners, who had some degree of choice, 98 00:03:33,436 --> 00:03:35,597 the main concern was practicality. 99 00:03:35,597 --> 00:03:37,581 The modern idea of marriage 100 00:03:37,581 --> 00:03:40,103 as being mainly about love and companionship 101 00:03:40,104 --> 00:03:42,916 only emerged in the last couple of centuries. 102 00:03:42,916 --> 00:03:44,214 With industrialization, 103 00:03:44,214 --> 00:03:45,212 urbanization 104 00:03:45,212 --> 00:03:46,923 and the growth of the middle class 105 00:03:46,923 --> 00:03:48,381 more people became independent 106 00:03:48,381 --> 00:03:50,186 from large extended families 107 00:03:50,186 --> 00:03:51,187 and were able to support 108 00:03:51,187 --> 00:03:53,50 a new household on their own. 109 00:03:53,50 --> 00:03:54,520 Encouraged by new ideas 110 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:55,686 from the Enlightenment, 111 00:03:55,686 --> 00:03:56,808 people began to focus 112 00:03:56,808 --> 00:03:59,269 on individual happiness and pursuits, 113 00:03:59,269 --> 00:04:02,229 rather than familial duty or wealth and status, 114 00:04:02,229 --> 00:04:03,531 at least some of the time. 115 00:04:03,531 --> 00:04:05,652 And this focus on individual happiness 116 00:04:05,652 --> 00:04:08,186 soon led to other transformations, 117 00:04:08,187 --> 00:04:10,322 such as easing restrictions on divorce 118 00:04:10,322 --> 00:04:12,989 and more people marrying at a later age. 119 00:04:12,989 --> 00:04:15,688 So, as we continue to debate the role and definition 120 00:04:15,688 --> 00:04:17,271 of marriage in the modern world, 121 00:04:17,271 --> 00:04:18,622 it might help to keep in mind 122 00:04:18,622 --> 00:04:21,270 that marriage has always been shaped by society, 123 00:04:21,269 --> 00:04:22,291 and as a society's 124 00:04:22,291 --> 00:04:24,103 structure, values and goals 125 00:04:24,103 --> 00:04:25,196 change over time, 126 00:04:25,196 --> 00:04:28,811 its ideas of marriage will continue to change along with them.