ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a first survey of the phenomenon of the “power couple” in Greco-Roman antiquity. After presenting the main biases of the literary and documentary sources which limit our knowledge about ancient power couples, the chapter summarises the results of the previous nine chapters and widens the reflection by analysing other cases of ancient power couples. Several aspects are most noteworthy: the respective role of the man, of the woman, and of their families in the creation of a power couple; the ways of enhancing a power couple (honorific titles for the partners, artificial creation of bonds of brotherhood between the partners, adoption of a partner by the other one, divine assimilation, twin portraits and official representation of the couple, media audience, etc.); some institutional aspects of Hellenistic and Roman marriage – like polygamy, serial monogamy, divorce, or repudiation; the role assigned to the woman in a power couple; the normality/exceptionality of ancient power couples compared to ordinary couples; some private aspects of conjugal life such as the age and/or sexual experience of the partners, maternity, infertility, the feelings between partners, and the dynamics of the couple.
