Full Brother-Sister Marriage in Roman Egypt: Another Look

Abstract

All definitions of the incest taboo include the idea of a taboo against sexual intercourse between individuals related in certain degrees of kinship (Arens 1986:5). However, there is wide variation with regard to the range of prohibited real or putative kin, the strength and explicitness of the rule and its sanctions, the symbolism and meanings associated with it, and speculations about its origin and functions. Of course there are ever present differences about its cultural and biological status. The essential and most interesting aspect of exceptions is that, rather than proving or disproving a rule, they present the opportunity to enlarge our understanding of underlying processes. An interesting exception to the alleged universality of the nuclear family incest taboo is the normative and pervasive institutionalization of full brother-sister marriages in Roman Egypt during the first three centuries C.E. Although the evidence in the papyri is clear about the existence of this practice, there exists no direct evidence in the relevant literature of either its causal antecedents or its personal or social consequences. Aside from relatively unusual cases provided by royalty in a few different societies, explained by special religious and economic functions (Arens 1986), this is the only instance where full brother-sister marriages were socially acceptable and institutionalized in a relatively sizable sector of the nonroyal population and for a lengthy period of time. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to present circumstantial evidence that permits inferences regarding the conditions giving rise to this occurrence; second, to comment on its wider implications for understanding the relationship of a phylogenetically pervasive biopsychological phenomenon (that is, inbreeding avoidance) to a sociocultural one (that is, the incest taboo) (Parker 1995). The latter issue has engendered considerable controversy in the anthropological literature.