Numerous unpublished Greek manuscripts contain the rituals of marriage as performed in diverse regions of the Byzantine world. This chapter both discusses the universal practices of weddings known across Christian communities of the Eastern Mediterranean and discerns unique traditions local to specific regions, like Byzantine Southern Italy or Palestine. The prayers of the marriage rite are analyzed, and attention is given to such gestures as crowning and veiling couples and to traditions previously unknown to Byzantinists, like the practice of breaking a glass at weddings, popularly understood today as a Jewish custom, as well as specific aspects of ritualized bridal costume and the roles of witnesses, or paranymphs.

This chapter reviews the ancient Greek, Roman and Jewish evidence to discern the marriage practices the early Christians would have known. It lays the foundation for tracing the antiquity of customs attested in the later Byzantine sources. In addition to ancient texts, this chapter examines Roman artistic depiction of marriage in frescoes and funerary art.

This chapter engages the earliest Christian references to marriage ceremony across a variety of early texts, including late antique homilies, hagiography, and letter correspondence, as well as theological discussions that ensued among early Christian authors about the proper forms of marriage and the church’s role within wedding ceremony. In addition to Greek authors, this chapter also examines early Latin and Syriac writings on the topic of marriage.

This chapter discusses images and objects associated with Byzantine betrothal and marriage, especially those examples that date prior to the earliest manuscripts of the marriage ceremony (which begin only from the eighth century). Special attention is given to art historical debates on the use and purpose of early Byzantine “marriage rings,” as well as marriage belts. The chapter concludes with an analysis of some later examples of marriage representations in fresco and manuscript illuminations.