ABSTRACT
Introduction To the modern readers’ eyes, Roman marriage was strikingly informal. If two people decided to live together as man and wife, man and wife they were. There was no state registration, and mutual consent from both partners was the crucial point that determined the validity of a marriage. Divorce was legally as easy and informal as contracting the marriage (Treggiari 1991 is the starting point for any study on Roman marriage). Compared to the Greco-Roman tradition, Jewish and Christian views and practices of marriages were more stringent. Sexuality and fertility came to play a crucial role. Marriage became a religious duty towards God and mankind, unless one chose a celibate existence out of religious motives (Cooper 2007). For those who for some reason or another could not comply with these expectations of marriage, some of the consequences were disabling (cf. Watts Belser and Lehmhaus in this volume on the Jewish tradition, Metzler on Christianity). Born in the same late ancient Mediterranean world, early Islam also had its specific views and expectations of marriage. This contribution will deal with men and women who somehow fell away from these expectations – specifically, they are reported to have been impotent men, eunuchs and sterile women. Were they ‘disabled’ within this new Islamic context?
