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Anyone knows when the greek/roman (or anyone else) start prohibiting polygamy and why?

user4951
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  • Polygamy means that one can have many spouses, (even a woman). What you are taking about is something different. – apoorv020 Nov 22 '11 at 06:53
  • @apoorv020: read the text more closely: "too many women would rather share a man". If several women share one man, that's polygamy, and if they also don't have multiple husbands, then some men must go without wives. – mgkrebbs Nov 22 '11 at 07:13
  • @mgkrebbs:No, if only men have multiple spouses, then it's polygyny. – apoorv020 Nov 22 '11 at 08:25
  • For completeness, see also polyandry. – Steve Melnikoff Nov 22 '11 at 10:57
  • I'm sure there were social reasons but I don't see what Democracy would have to do with this specifically. Polygamy exists in many cultures in the past and democracy was not a form of government for them. – MichaelF Nov 22 '11 at 17:01
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    Please consider formulating this as a question rather than an answer. Particularly if everything you can come up with are wild speculations that attract downvotes to an otherwise valid question. – Wladimir Palant Nov 22 '11 at 19:29
  • Well that Matt Ridley is not a speculator. He's an evolutionary psychologists that understand human nature well. He also explained how religions got developed. How should I rephrase it then? – user4951 Nov 23 '11 at 05:21
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    @JimThio: This is a history site, not psychology. You have to ask about historical events or something that can be explained with historical events. And any relation between monogamy and democracy is such a ridiculous assumption that Rory's is the only valid answer to it. You should be the one to provide evidence supporting this assumption, not the people who answer you. Next time you will ask whether Ancient Greeks went into space and require evidence that they didn't. – Wladimir Palant Nov 23 '11 at 07:33
  • I am just checking the time polygamy start becoming illegal. I am not even advocating polygamy (I hate marriage). I think that's the true use of history. To test social theories. – user4951 Nov 23 '11 at 08:53
  • Matt has an interesting theory. That we can test. We can see whether democracy correlates with legalization of polygamy or not. Just like this question http://history.stackexchange.com/questions/375/when-did-homosexuality-become-unacceptable-in-europe – user4951 Nov 23 '11 at 08:55
  • Well the homosexual question just noted when it became illegal, your reference to Democracy takes it out of the same scope. Especially your last question "If this is true.." opens debate on the question and by the FAQ we are trying to demonstrable answerable questions. http://history.stackexchange.com/faq – MichaelF Nov 23 '11 at 13:55
  • Okay I get rid the Matt Ridley part. So far no answer is legitimate though. I know Rome prohibit polygamy but allow concubines. So something happened even before that. – user4951 Nov 25 '11 at 10:46
  • C'mon guys. This is a very major event in history and nobody knows when it started? – user4951 Nov 25 '11 at 10:48
  • I can't believe this. I am asking when polygamy start becoming illegal in the #1 history site and no body can give dates, years, or events or anything. – user4951 Dec 12 '11 at 06:23

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There are many many facts that would account for monogamy :

  1. Gender ratio - The gender ratio at birth is about 1:1. If there is no large scale deaths in males, then polygamy would essentially leave many men wifeless.
  2. Religion - Christianity bans adultery and polygamy. Given the dominance of Christian Europe in the last few centuries, this has probably had a lot of influence.
  3. Human Nature - Nobody wants to share. polygamy can probably lead to uncomfortable living conditions.
  4. Economics - Supporting a wife and children is expensive. Supporting more than one wife and extra children would probably be out of the reach of majority of population in ancient times.

I might also point out that monogamy was already an established custom in the monarchies that have since become democracies, so the correlation (if any), should only be made between monogamy and monarchies. Since most of the known world was monarchial in nature, this essentially means that we don't have enough data for a correlation.

apoorv020
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  • You said no body wants to share? Are there any historical evidence? I mean I'd rather share a porn star than be the only one for ugly women. – user4951 Nov 22 '11 at 07:36
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    I don't believe "Christianity" does ban polygamy. It was a common practice throughout the Old and New Testaments, and was never forbidden by scripture. That's not to say certain modern Christian sects don't ban it, though... – Flimzy Nov 26 '11 at 01:37
  • Flimzy you are correct. Judaism doesn't prohibit polygamy. Something else did. I pick this as the answer because there is no better answer. – user4951 Dec 12 '11 at 06:17
  • I must dispute this answer. I recently had a conversation with the two wives of a neighbour. Points #3 (Human Nature) and #4 (Economics) are in contradiction to their experience as they shared with me. Though the first wife was initially jealous of the second wife, but they became friendly after a few years. The living conditions were never uncomfortable as both women (and children) lived in separate houses on the same land. Additionally, the husband is dirt-dirt-poor, so economics is not a factor. – dotancohen May 08 '14 at 07:05
  • @Flimzy - The traditional wag counter to that argument is Matthew 6:24 - "A man cannot serve two masters." :-) – T.E.D. Mar 30 '17 at 14:49
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Unlikely. Polygamy was banned in Europe centuries before democracy, and it would have been banned for religious reasons rather than men voting to ban it to increase their chances of marriage.

Amandasaurus
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  • Any sources? Yes polygamy goes both way males and females. – user4951 Nov 23 '11 at 05:20
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    Religion is never the true reason. Religion is always a mask of something those in power already want. – user4951 Nov 25 '11 at 10:48
  • Polygamy was banned in Athen long before christianity. Recent democracy is recent. I am thinking about athen democracy. That's predate christ. – user4951 Jul 15 '15 at 07:32