The Emergence of Dower in Late Antique Roman Law
In: Forma Aperta - Ricerche di storia, culture, religioni: 3, 2022
DOI: 10.48255/9788891322722.10
Gibbon’s seminal Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire has dominated the popular perspective on the final centuries of the western Roman empire and generated a long-standing image of a polity in gradual and unstoppable decline. The 4th and 5th centuries in particular are thought of as a period during which the empire and its administration were in a perpetual state of damage control, seeking at all times to desperately hold together what semblance of power and structure remained. A dedicated study of dower as expressed in Roman law in the period, however, could offer an alternative narrative that presents a contrasting image of the 4th and 5th centuries Roman empire as one that is dynamic and innovative rather than stagnating. The proposed essay will first consider the way that dower as a groom-to-bride gift associated with the process of marriage is expressed in Roman law. It will then evaluate the theories that have been proposed to explain the sudden emergence of dower in the period’s law, which theories have so far explained this change as a further symptom of an imploding and declining polity. The essay will then critically evaluate these theories and explain why none of them are sufficient to explain this emergence of dower in Roman law. Finally, by reapplying Herlihy’s theory of the ‘marriage market’ for the period, I will explain how dower is in itself a symptom not of decline but of innovation, and that any understanding of the emergence of dower must be pursued in the context of Diocletian’s administrative reform and the culture of meritocracy and upwards-mobility which they fostered.