Długotrwałe małżeństwa chrześcijan w świetle inskrypcji nagrobnych z katakumb Rzymu III-VI wieku
Long Term Christian Marriages View of Funeral Inscription from 3th – 6th Century Rome Catacombs

Summary/Abstract: RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The main goal of the research was to investigate roman Christians in 3th – 6th century opinion about seniors whose marriage last at least 34 years. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The main problem was to establish weight of long life and relationship on the Christian ethics and viewpoint. The research used epigraphic, historical and anthropological methods. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: Author analyzed the tomb inscriptions from the III VI century Roman catacombs. The analyzed collection of inscriptions contained 22 texts about de ceased men: six of them contained information on their age, and 16 on the duration of their marriages. Of this number 7.3% of the inscription were devoted to men who died in the age 60-100. The analysis also included 26 tables devoted to women: six of them contain the age of their life, 16 duration of their marriages, and four information on the period of widowhood, which is 15.6% of all information concerning the women. Thus, the number of data related to men and women is comparable, although the percentage of data in relation to overall information gives a two-fold advantage to women. The order in which I analyze the data is due to the preferences of the ancient world, which used to give priority to men. However, this was not always reflected in the analyzed texts. RESEARCH RESULTS: An epigraphy, a historical and an anthropological analysis were not providing evidence for special value of such relationships in contrast to high value of a long widowhood. However, important values in inscriptions were to emphases strong ties between spouses and position of a deceased.

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