Divorce in Classical Athens

The modern literature on divorce in Classical Athens is slight, the only detailed discussion that of W. Erdmann, Die Ehe im alten Griechenland (Munich 1934; repr. New York 1979) 384–403. A rare certainty in our knowledge is the ease with which a husband could terminate marriage. He had only to send his wife away, that is, back to her paternal family, and the marriage was at an end. From this it is tempting to infer that divorce in Athens was frequent, even casual. Not surprisingly that view has had a long tradition in works on marriage and family, law, society, and ancient Greece in general. It is a view almost surely incorrect, however, as the following examination of the evidence will show.