Unlike the romantic weddings of today, marriage in ancient Rome was an arrangement between two families. Like much of Roman society, it was highly structured but also logical and, in some ways ...

One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided ...

Unlike society in ancient Egypt, Rome did not regard women as equal to ... Traditionally, this was their father before marriage. At that point, authority switched to their husband, who also ...

However, slavery in ancient Rome underpinned much of society’s ... Pliny tells us that he even permitted informal marriage pacts and the making of wills. Some slaves developed close ...

Lupercalia was an ancient Roman fertility festival in mid-February where young men drew women’s names from a box, often leading to romantic pairings. This later influenced the modern celebration of ...

Pictured is the Shrine of Saint Valentine in Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin. Saint Valentine, a priest in ancient Rome, ...