Infidelity and the boundaries of law

What was at risk if you were unfaithful in Ancient Egyptian times? And what about in Ancient Roman times? Nowadays, are people who are unfaithful treated equally, whatever their culture, religion or gender?

Throughout different periods of history, fidelity has been accepted to different degrees. Even though today in western societies it seems to be, for the most part, well accepted, it isn’t the case everywhere, depending on the culture, society and whether you’re a man or a woman.

Infidelity in ancient tradition

In Ancient Egypt, unfaithful women were punished by drowning, but there was a possibility for pardon by their husbands. In fact, their husbands even had the right to kill the lover. According to Assyrian Law, the husband had a choice between killing both the guilty parties straight away, asking a judge for them to be mutilated, or granting them both a pardon. The Hebrews used to punish the adulterous woman, either on her own or with her lover, by stoning.

In some Greek cities, the husband could kill both guilty parties or ask for financial compensation. In Athens, husbands were not bound by the duty of fidelity and only the wives were cracked down on. While these Athenian women didn’t risk death, they could be disowned by their husbands and banned from society. In Rome, the husband decided on the punishment and the wife could even be put to death.

Infidelity and Judeo-Christian morality

The sixth of the Ten Commandments, as received by Moses, states: ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’ With the advent of Christianity, the views become more specific. Jesus took it a step further and said: ‘He who looks at a woman with lust in his eyes has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’ Note that according to this Christian morality, the husband’s adultery is just as disgraceful as the wife’s, which in reality wasn’t often the way the law was applied.

Is polygamy infidelity?

In 1985, the Prime Minister of Singapore encouraged polygamy in order to increase the number of births and in some African countries, polygamy is both an outward sign of wealth and the symbol of male virility.

Where marriage is concerned, Islamic law allows a man to have up to four wives, and it’s also legal to have any number of concubines. But, as in Judeo-Christian societies, Muslim societies are very strict with regards to a married woman’s infidelity and all the openness applies only to men!

Infidelity faced with religious fervour

In the film ‘Yol’ the Turkish film producer Yilmaz Güney tells the story of an unfaithful wife who is disowned by her husband and abandoned out in the snow in the mountains. In Iran, under Khomeini’s rule, people found guilty of adultery were (and can still be today) punished by stoning.

In Afghanistan, since the Taliban seized power, if a woman uncovers any part of her body in public, it is tantamount to infidelity and punishable by death and in Pakistan a women who reports a rape needs to produce 4 witnesses to testify to the fact, otherwise she risks being accused of adultery, with a subsequent jail sentence and public whipping.

Marianne Chouchan

Copyright © 2009 Doctissimo

Posted 29.07.2010

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