Polygyny - History

History

Polygyny was partially accepted in ancient Hebrew society, in classical China, and in sporadic traditional Native American, African and Polynesian cultures. In India it was known to have been practiced during ancient times. It was accepted in ancient Greece, until the Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church when having one wife, but multiple lovers became the norm. It was accepted in Sub-Saharan Africa for most of the past two millennia.

In the Hebrew Bible, polygyny was a permitted practice (and required in the case of a levirate marriage) whilst polyandry (a woman having more than one husband) was seen as adultery.

In the United States, polygyny or "plural marriage" was allowed in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It ended in 1890 under the president of the LDS Church at the time, Wilford Woodruff. Officially since 1899, members of the LDS Church faced excommunication for being polygynous. There are several sects who separated themselves from LDS Church, and who have no ties nor relationship to the LDS Church that continue to practice polygyny despite polygynous marriage being illegal in the United States.

In historical China, a child might have up to four "mothers", the first wife being the "official mother" (嫡母 dímǔ) – in spoken language called "big mother" (大媽 dàmā) – the others being regarded as unofficial mothers (庶母 shùmǔ), in spoken language called "little mother" (小媽 xiǎomā) or "aunt" (阿姨 āyí, 姨娘 yíniáng). However, this custom was primarily a result of the concubinage system, where only the first wife by marriage was considered the wife and the mistress of the household. A concubine did not marry her owner. Her main duty was to provide a son to her owner, and any children from the liaison were not regarded as officially hers. But she was also brought into the household to provide sexual pleasure to the man and servitude to his wife.

In polygynous marriages generally, usually one wife is the “queen wife” who is accorded a higher status than the other wives and has some authority over the other wives.