Did men and women in the ancient ages love their spouses?

[Thiscantgoonlikethis]

I’m just struck by the central theme of the Odyssey being a man trying to make it back to his wife. Is this a modern emphasis?
I know Homer did feature Odysseus and Penelope as truly in love with eachother.
But for the every day man, or wolsn who was probably voiceless, did they feel love for eachother? As we understand it.

Don’t know, haven’t had the opportunity to ask them

Emily Hausers book talks about the burial of babies/children in this ancient greek/civilisations period and said they have found that evidence that burials of the young members of the family were often within the home as opposed to being else where in the community which shows the importance of keeping them close by /within the family space

In Cumberland, wives could be sold, if they consented. Easier than a divorce and it meant that she was provided for

Wasn't "love" just invented in 1742?

I know it sounds a bit woo but I attended the 'your life in a previous life' live show a few years ago, Berkshire. It turns out a close friend of mine was actually a cleaner for an ancient Pharro in Egypt who witness his downfall after losing his wife, it completely broke him and he died of a broken heart. I believe the date was approx 1500 BC so clearly there were strong emotional bonds way back then too

You could try Plato’s ‘Symposium’ for similar stories. And consider the existence of Aphrodite. Humans have not noticeably evolved in 2000 years and had emotions as well as (often superior) intelligence back then.

For homosexual - lesbian - love try Sappho.

See also Thomas Hardy's 'The Mayor of Casterbridge"

Most people were owned back then. Maybe the owning class fell in love.

Romantic love isn’t some kind of trans historical, transcultural law across all times and places, no. For much of human history, marriages were primarily dynastic, to do with family alliances, and romantic love was an entirely separate concept. Look at the troubadours and the idea of courtly love that emerged in medieval in France — knights or poets pining for unobtainable ladies, in stark contrast to the political/economic marriages.

Amazing!

Clearly people in the past loved as we did. But there are many traditions throughout time of typical romantic love being outside marriage. Whether same sex men/boys in ancient Greece or the medieval courtly love. Or Sei Shonagon's pillow book from Japan a thousand years ago.

Which doesn't mean that married couples didn't love each other, but it was acknowledged that many marriages were practical and people might find love outside them (even if this was forbidden).

For sure people in ages past felt emotions and fell in love just as we do. However among the aristocracy and royalty marriage was more of a business contract than a union of love. It was used to cement and consolidate estates and trade relations. The partners often knew very little of one another before the ceremony. That's not to say that they did not grow to love one another as time went on.

An example is king George V and Queen Mary. She was engaged to marry his brother Eddy but on his premature death she was married to the younger brother. It was certainly a marriage of convenience. They were both very reserved people but they grew to love one another in time. Their private letters to one another show a very tender relationship.

The ancient Greeks named and loved all the loves.

They defined them, wrote about them and lived them. In their own special, patriarchal way. Where women were always at the bottom of the pile.

Unless they were Spartan women.