Originally posted by pizzintea
In a class we talked about marriage evolving to determine who owned property and family. Anyone know about this and maybe a source?
In order to discuss the evolution of marriage, you're going to have to define the timeframe and
culture in question. Even today, different cultures -- Western, Middle Eastern, indigenous Native
South American -- have widely divergent views about what marriage entails.
So, do you mean the evolution of marriage in Western European thought? If you do, then Seitse's
recommendation is not too bad, since the Bible and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church
(and later the Protestant ones) were profoundly influential in shaping the social mores around
marriage.
But, I'm under the impression you meant marriage in pre-civilized time, which would the Bible
would be pretty useless, since the pre-literate period is much longer than the literate ones
the Bible represents.
Nemesio