Incest Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Antiquity=== In [[ancient China]], first cousins with the same surnames (i.e. those born to the father's brothers) were not permitted to marry, while those with different surnames could marry (i.e. maternal cousins and paternal cousins born to the father's sisters).<ref>{{cite book |last=Gulik |first=Robert Hans van |title=Sexual Life in Ancient China: a Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society from ca. 1500 B.C. till 1644 A.D. |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |year=1974 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u9MUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA19 |isbn=978-90-04-03917-9}}</ref> In [[Achaemenid Persia]], marriages between family members, such as half-siblings, nieces and cousins took place but were not seen as incestuous. However, Greek sources state that brother-sister and father-daughter marriages allegedly took place inside the royal family, yet it remains problematic to determine the reliability of these accounts.{{sfn|Brosius|2000}} According to [[Herodotus]], Shah [[Cambyses II]] supposedly married two of his sisters, [[Atossa]] and Roxane.{{sfn|Dandamayev|1990|pp=726–729}}{{sfn|Brosius|2000}} This would have been regarded as illegal. However, Herodotus also states that Cambyses married [[Otanes]]' daughter [[Phaedymia|Phaidyme]], whilst his contemporary [[Ctesias]] names Roxane as Cambyses' wife, but she is not referred to as his sister.{{sfn|Brosius|2000}} The accusations against Cambyses of committing incest are mentioned as part of his "blasphemous actions", which were designed to illustrate his "madness and vanity". These reports all derive from the same Egyptian source that was antagonistic towards Cambyses, and some of these allegations of "crimes", such as the killing of the [[Apis bull]], have been confirmed as false, which means that the report of Cambyses' supposed incestuous acts is questionable.{{sfn|Brosius|2000}} Several of the Egyptian [[king]]s married their sisters and had several children with them to continue the royal bloodline. For example, [[Tutankhamun]] married his half-sister [[Ankhesenamun]], and was himself the child of an incestuous union between [[Akhenaten]] and an unidentified sister-wife. Several scholars, such as Frier et al., state that sibling marriages were widespread among all classes in Egypt during the Graeco-Roman period. Numerous [[papyrus|papyri]] and the Roman census declarations attest to many husbands and wives being brother and sister, of the same father and mother.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=N. |title=Life in Egypt under Roman Rule |isbn=978-0-19-814848-7 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press|Clarendon Press]] |year=1983 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeinegyptunder0000lewi }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Frier |first1=Bruce W. |last2=Bagnall |first2=Roger S. |author2-link=Roger S. Bagnall |title=The Demography of Roman Egypt |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-521-46123-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Shaw |first=B. D. |title=Explaining Incest: Brother-Sister Marriage in Graeco-Roman Egypt |journal=Man |series=New Series |volume=27 |issue=2 |year=1992 |pages=267–299 |jstor=2804054 |doi=10.2307/2804054}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hopkins |first=Keith |author-link=Keith Hopkins |year=1980 |title=Brother-Sister Marriage in Roman Egypt |url=http://humweb.ucsc.edu/jklynn/ancientwomen/HopkinsBrotherSisterMarriage.pdf |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=22 |pages=303–354 |doi=10.1017/S0010417500009385 |issue=3 |s2cid=143698328 |access-date=21 July 2013 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180202/http://humweb.ucsc.edu/jklynn/ancientwomen/HopkinsBrotherSisterMarriage.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, it has also been argued that the available evidence does not support the view that such relations were common.<ref>Walter Scheidel. 2004. "Ancient Egyptian Sibling Marriage and the Westermarck Effect", in ''Inbreeding, Incest, and the Incest Taboo: the state of knowledge at the turn of the century'' Arthur Wolf and William Durham (eds) Stanford University Press. pp. 93–108</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Huebner | first1 = Sabine R | year = 2007 | title = 'Brother-Sister' Marriage in Roman Egypt: a Curiosity of Humankind or a Widespread Family Strategy?. | journal = The Journal of Roman Studies | volume = 97 | pages = 21–49 | doi = 10.3815/000000007784016070 }}</ref><ref>Huebner, Sabine R. The family in Roman Egypt: a comparative approach to intergenerational solidarity and conflict. Cambridge University Press, 2013.</ref> The most famous of these relationships were in the [[Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemaic royal family]]; [[Cleopatra VII]] was married to two of her younger brothers, [[Ptolemy XIII]] and [[Ptolemy XIV]], whilst her mother and father, [[Cleopatra V of Egypt|Cleopatra V]] and [[Ptolemy XII]], were also brother and sister. [[Arsinoe II]] and her younger brother [[Ptolemy II|Ptolemy II Philadelphus]] were the first in the family to participate in a full-sibling marriage, a departure from custom.<ref name="Familiarity Breeds: Incest and the">{{cite journal |last1=Ager |first1=Sheila L. |title=Familiarity Breeds: Incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty |journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies |date=2005 |volume=125 |pages=1–34 |doi=10.1017/S0075426900007084 |jstor=30033343 |pmid=19681234 |issn=0075-4269}}</ref> A union between full siblings was counternormative in Greek and Macedonian tradition, and prohibited by the laws of at least some cities.<ref name="Familiarity Breeds: Incest and the"/> It evidently caused some degree of astonishment: the Alexandrian poet [[Sotades]] was put to death for criticizing the "wicked" nature of the marriage, while his contemporary [[Theokritos]] more politically compared it to the relationship of [[Zeus]] with his older sister [[Hera]]. Ptolemy and his sister-wife Arsinoe put emphasis on their incestuous union through their mutual adoption of the epithet ''Philadelphos'' ("Sibling-Lover"). They were the first full-sibling royal couple in the kingdom's known history to produce a child, Ptolemy V, and for the subsequent century and more the Ptolemies participated in full-sibling unions wherever possible.<ref name="The Routledge Companion to Women and Monarchy in the Ancient Mediterranean World">{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= The Routledge Companion to Women and Monarchy in the Ancient Mediterranean World|publisher= Taylor & Francis|date= 9 November 2020|isbn= 9780429783982}}</ref> It may have been observation of their next-door Ptolemaic competitors that guided the [[Seleukids]] to their own experimentations with sibling unions. The daughter of [[Antiochus III]] and [[Laodice III]], [[Laodice IV]], married her two full-blooded older brothers, [[Antiochus (son of Antiochus III the Great)|Antiochus]] and [[Seleucus IV]], and also her younger brother [[Antiochus IV]]. Her second and third brother-husbands ruled as king one after the other, making her the queen in both her marriages. She bore children to all three of her brothers from her unions with them. One of them was her son [[Demetrius I Soter|Demetrius I]], who also took the throne at one point and married a full-sister of his own, [[Laodice V]]. Laodice V bore her brother-husband three children; their marriage is the last known sibling marriage in the kingdom's history.<ref name="The Routledge Companion to Women and Monarchy in the Ancient Mediterranean World" /> [[File:Tutankhamun and his wife B. C. 1330.jpg|thumb|Egyptian king [[Tutankhamun]] married his half-sister [[Ankhesenamun]].]] There are records of brother{{ndash}}sister unions in some of the smaller kingdoms of the [[Hellenistic era]], though none of them seem to have pursued it with the zeal and resolve of the Ptolemies. The [[Kingdom of Pontus|Pontic]] and [[Commagene|Kommagenian]] kingdoms had full-sibling unions in a few ages. [[Mithridates IV of Pontus]] married his sister [[Laodice (sister-wife of Mithridates IV of Pontus)|Laodice]]; the couple adopted the double epithet ''Philadelphoi'', which they publicized on their coinage, where, as with Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II, they were depicted in [[Jugate|jugate coinage]], with the likeness of Hera and Zeus on the back. [[Mithridates VI Eupator]] also wed a sister called Laodice. In Commagane the later pro-Roman King Antiochus III Philokaisar wed his sister Iotapa, and the couple procreated themselves exactly, producing their son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and their daughter, Iotapa, who would unite with him and also adopt the epithet ''Philadelphos''.<ref name="The Routledge Companion to Women and Monarchy in the Ancient Mediterranean World" /> The fable of ''[[Oedipus]]'', with a theme of inadvertent incest between a mother and son, ends in disaster and shows ancient taboos against incest, since Oedipus blinds himself in disgust and shame after his incestuous actions. In the 'sequel' to ''Oedipus'', ''[[Antigone]]'', his four children are also punished for their parents' incestuousness. Incest appears in the commonly accepted version of the birth of [[Adonis]], when his mother, [[Myrrha]], has sex with her father, [[Cinyras]], during a festival, disguised as a [[prostitute]]. In [[ancient Greece]], [[Ancient Sparta|Spartan King]] [[Leonidas I]], hero of the legendary [[Battle of Thermopylae]], was married to his [[niece]] [[Gorgo, Queen of Sparta|Gorgo]], daughter of his half-brother [[Cleomenes I]]. Greek law allowed marriage between a brother and sister if they had different mothers: for example, some accounts say that [[Elpinice]] was for a time married to her half-brother [[Cimon]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Bios/Elpinice.html |title=Elpinice |last=Lahanas |first=Michael |year=2006 |encyclopedia=Hellenic World encyclopaedia |publisher=Hellenica |access-date=6 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090921025414/http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Bios/Elpinice.html |archive-date=21 September 2009 }}</ref> Incest was sometimes acknowledged as a positive sign of tyranny in ancient Greece. [[Herodotus]] recounts a dream of [[Hippias (tyrant)|Hippias]], son of [[Pisistratus]], in which he "slept with his own mother", and this dream gave him assurance that he would regain power over Athens. [[Suetonius]] attributes this omen to a dream of [[Julius Caesar]], explaining the symbolism of dreaming of sexual intercourse with one's own mother.<ref name="A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion">{{cite book |last= Munn|first= Mark H.|date= 11 July 2006|title= A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion|publisher= University of California Press|page= 154|isbn= 0520931580}}</ref> Incest is mentioned and condemned in [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' Book VI:<ref>[http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_vergil_aeneid_latin_6.htm Vergil Aeneid Book VI in Latin: The descent to the Underworld] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921102854/http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_vergil_aeneid_latin_6.htm |date=21 September 2011 }}. Ancienthistory.about.com (15 June 2010). Retrieved on 2011-10-01.</ref> ''hic thalamum invasit natae vetitosque hymenaeos''{{nbsp}}{{ndash}} "This one invaded a daughter's room and a forbidden sex act". [[File:Yaxchilán lintel.jpg|thumb|Maya king [[Itzamnaaj B'alam II|Shield Jaguar II]] with his [[avunculate marriage|aunt-wife]], [[Lady Xoc]] AD 709]] [[Roman law|Roman civil law]] prohibited marriages within four degrees of consanguinity<ref name="SRCL514">Patrick Colquhoun, ''A Summary of the Roman Civil Law, Illustrated by Commentaries on and Parallels from the Mosaic, Canon, Mohammedan, English, and Foreign Law'' (London: Wm. Benning & Co., 1849), p. 513-4</ref> but had no degrees of affinity with regard to marriage. Roman civil laws prohibited any marriage between parents and children, either in the ascending or descending line [[:wikt:ad infinitum|ad infinitum]].<ref name="SRCL514"/> Adoption was considered the same as affinity in that an adoptive father could not marry an [[:wikt:unemancipated|unemancipated]] daughter or granddaughter even if the adoption had been dissolved.<ref name="SRCL514"/> Incestuous unions were discouraged and considered ''[[nefas]]'' (against the laws of gods and man) in [[ancient Rome]]. In AD 295, incest was explicitly forbidden by an imperial edict, which divided the concept of ''incestus'' into two categories of unequal gravity: the ''incestus iuris gentium'', which was applied to both Romans and non-Romans in the Empire, and the ''incestus iuris civilis'', which concerned only Roman citizens. Therefore, for example, an Egyptian could marry an aunt, but a Roman could not. Despite the act of incest being unacceptable within the Roman Empire, Roman Emperor [[Caligula]] is rumored to have had sexual relationships with all three of his sisters ([[Julia Livilla]], [[Drusilla (sister of Caligula)|Drusilla]], and [[Agrippina the Younger]]).{{sfn|Potter|2007|p=62}} Emperor [[Claudius]], after executing his previous wife, married his brother's daughter, Agrippina the Younger, and changed the law to allow an otherwise illegal union.{{sfn|Potter|2007|p=66}} The law prohibiting marrying a sister's daughter remained.<ref>{{cite book |first=Judith Evans |last=Grubbs |title=Women and the Law in the Roman Empire: a Sourcebook on Marriage, Divorce and Widowhood |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4X8HXDwMHawC&pg=PA137 |access-date=7 November 2011 |year=2002 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-15240-2 |pages=137–}}</ref> The taboo against incest in ancient Rome is demonstrated by the fact that politicians would use charges of incest (often false charges) as insults and means of political disenfranchisement. [[Strabo]] reported that the Persian [[magi]] and the Irish had sex with their own mothers. [[Ctesias]]' ''History of Persia'' mentions how some Macedonians who saw a performance of ''[[Oedipus Rex|Oedipus Tyrannus]]'' were perplexed at why Oedipus felt the need to mutilate himself after learning the truth about his birth; they booed the actor, and urged each other "Go for your mother".<ref name="Incest and the Medieval Imagination">{{cite book |last= Archibald|first= Elizabeth|date= 24 May 2001|title= Incest and the Medieval Imagination|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=17|isbn= 0191540854}}</ref> In [[Norse mythology]], there are themes of brother{{ndash}}sister marriage, a prominent example being between [[Njörðr]] and his [[Sister-wife of Njörðr|unnamed sister]] (perhaps [[Nerthus]]), parents of [[Freyja]] and [[Freyr]]. [[Loki]] in turn also accuses Freyja and Freyr of having a sexual relationship. 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