Divorce in antiquity

[docoflove1974]

MPC's thread on the 'Eternal Triangle' between Cato, Marcia and Hortensius had me thinking about divorce; the article he linked reminds me more of what our society 'allows', and would be typical of a modern court case now (except the thought that once Cato divorced her, Marcia 'returned' to her father...that doesn't fly here anymore). What truly comes to mind is a comparison between Rome and Greece. So, a series of questions:

• Is there a general consensus about divorce in Rome? Was it as it is today (in the US, at least), where people divorced for several reasons, and essentially without social reprocusion? Or does it depend greatly on the period of history (Pre-Republic, Republic, Empire, Late Empire, etc.)?
  
• I believe I've read that Roman women had much more freedom in general over their Greek counterparts, and divorce is no exception. Is this correct?
  
• Was there a general consensus about divorce in Ancient Greece? Or does this vary from city-state to city-state?
  

Oh what wonders spring forth from the mind!

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

Well from the top of my head at 5 in the morning here come some answers :

 

- Roman attitude toward divorce evolved during the roman periods, with times when it was more frowned upon ( in Augustus' time for example divorce was less tolerated that during Caesar's lifetime, due to natalist and moral concern originated in the Palace's propaganda ). And I'd say that before the first century BC divorcing was not a very good thing especially for the wife which is most often blammed of something. Even earlier was divorce forbidden as is kept in some forms of marriage.

- Greek women were held more often home and seems to have had much less freedom than their roman counterpart, especially if we consider Periclean Athens and Caesar's Rome. But saying that is missing the fact that a country girl had much more freedom than a city girl, and a lower class girl had more than a noble born one. Indeed we forget too often that what we see through our sources is more often than not a high born class view of the world with the rules ( written or not ) that apply to this small elite.

- As far as I know divorce was not common but we see through hellenistic papyrus that some formulations used for marriages contracts in Ptolema