Influence of Culture over Marital Love and Fidelity in Ancient Rome and Ugboha of Edo State.docVIP

Influence of Culture over Marital Love and Fidelity in Ancient Rome and Ugboha of Edo State 　　Received 10 February 2013; accepted 15 April 2013 　　Abstract 　　This paper, interrogated the roles and pressures of culture over marital love and fidelity and vice-versa in both societies. The study employed historical and comparative methodologies to highlight the influence of culture over marital love and fidelity in both societies. Sources utilised on Ancient Rome were classical and modern authors. Inscriptions from the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) were also utilized. For Ugboha, information was gathered from literary works, and oral interviews. The data were subjected to content analysis. This paper argued that culture which has the capacity to influence people’s actions with regard to marriage, tended to become partial and in times of change, becomes dynamic in order to suit the needs of contemporary times. This paper concludes by saying that in spite of the Hamitic hypothesis, culture and people of a society can grow and develop independent of each other. 　　INTRODUCTION 　　In antiquity, marriages were contracted according to the exigencies of the culture. The custodians of this culture were the ruling elite; the kings and later the consuls. Other bodies involved in the leadership of the State also contributed to the establishment and interpretations of the traditions of the land. During this period the male gender handled most of the political and social issues, and so were largely the ruling elite. This was also the norm among the pre-colonial and colonial people of Ugboha in Esan land. This exclusion from decision making may have led to the relegation of women to the background during these periods. It was to such an extent that the female citizens almost shared the same status as slaves, but for the fact that they were citizens. The reason may be adduced to the fact that females were not combatants in both societies. Therefore, important governmental