Lecture
Polygamy or polygyny [1] (from other Greek, πολύ- "many-" and γυνή "wife") is one of the forms of polygamous marriage, in which a man is married to several wives at the same time.
Polygamy is divided into social and non-oral by social anthropologists. In the case of litter polygamy, all the wives of one man are sisters, while in non-oral, they are not [2].
According to Etnolog.ru, the sorrowful polygamy was, in particular, among some Indian tribes: it was found in the Western and Northern Shoshone, Luiseno (English) Russian, Payyut, Yagan, preserved in Blackfoot, Dakota, was common in Hiwara, Apache, Botokudo (for elders and skilled hunters), Chinooks (especially among the nobility), were also practiced by the Indians of the Subarctic and the northwestern coast of North America: Chipovean, Tlingit, Innu, Creed, Ojibwe, Slavey, Haida, Tanain (in the latter case, mainly rich), preserved in the Quicateque (English) ru sc., Huichol, Tzotzil, Panare (though rarely), leaders Xavante language (Eng.) Russian. and chickpea.
Polygamy was also part of the first written civilization - the Sumerians [3], but according to the laws of Lipit-Ishtar, it was allowed only in the case of infertility.
Historically, polygamy occurred in more than 80% of human cultural communities [4], and, in particular, was widespread in Hebrew society, in China, Korea [5], among certain indigenous peoples of America, Africa and Polynesia. In ancient Greece, polygamy was allowed only to compensate for casualties in wars. After the restoration of the number of people, polygamy was officially forbidden. Herodotus noted as unusual the fact that the king of Sparta had two wives. In ancient Rome, polygamy was prohibited [6], but there was concubinage (informal or “civil” marriage of one man with one or at the same time with several women).
Scientists have conducted a series of studies to determine the impact of polygamy on the health and life expectancy of men and women in such a marriage, as well as on the health of children born in polygamous families, compared to monogamy.
The study, which aimed to establish the impact of polygamy on the health of children and parents, was conducted from 2009 to 2011 in Tanzania by medical and anthropologists from England, the United States and Tanzania. In the course of this study, 3,584 families were studied, of which 2,268 families had children under 5 years of age. This study has refuted the thesis that polygamy is the cause of children's health problems and malnutrition. Moreover, the study revealed that children from polygamous families had fewer health problems than children from monogamous families, since richer men had several wives, and the poor remained mononamous [4] [7].
According to a study conducted in 2008 by environmentalist Virpi Lummaa (English Virpi Lummaa) of the University of Sheffield, the average life expectancy for men in countries where polygamy is legalized exceeds this indicator in countries where polygamy is not allowed [8] [9].
See also: Pilegsh
Polygamy in Judaism is considered possible in order to avoid starvation, widowhood or in the case of female infertility [10], as well as in a leviratnaya marriage, when the brother was to marry and provide for the widow of his brother (Deut. 25: 5-10). Despite numerous references in the Torah, some scholars believe that polygyny was not really common in biblical times, since polygamy requires wealth [11]. And Michael Coogan, on the contrary, argues that polygyny in biblical times was common, and faded away only to the 2nd century AD [12].
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When the Christian church came into being, polygamy still occurred among the Jews. It is true that we will not find any references to it in the New Testament, and from this some have concluded that it should be out of use, and that during our Lord the Jewish people became monogamous. But such a conclusion seems unjustified. Josephus Flavius in two places speaks of polygamy as a recognized institution: and Justin Martyr makes him the subject of reproach for Trifon [13] since the Jewish teachers allow a man to have several wives. In fact, when, in 212 AD, the edict of Caracalla granted Roman citizenship to a large number of Jews, it was considered necessary to tolerate polygamy among them, although this was a violation of Roman law, so that a citizen has more than one wife. In 285 AD, the Constitution of Diocletian and Maximian prohibited polygamy for all subjects of the empire without exception. But at least the adoption of this law had no effect on the Jews, and in 393 AD, Theodosius issued a special law to force the Jews to abandon this national custom. But even this did not force them to adapt [14]. |  |
In 1000, Rabbi Gershom imposed a 1000-year ban on polygamy for Ashkenazic Jews [15] [16] [17]. The introduction of this prohibition among Ashkenazic Jews is explained by the following reasons [17]:
Modern secular Israel, founded back in the period of this 1000-year ban, does not allow polygamous marriages. But at the same time, those Yemeni Jews who have already become polygamies may receive Israeli citizenship, and their marriage unions with the second and subsequent wives have legal force (applicable only to those born in Yemen and married in there before coming to Israel) [ 18]. Also in Israel is allowed double-marriage by decision of the rabbinate court as an exception to the rule [19] [20].
At the same time there are the following restrictions on polygamy:
Do not take your wife with her sister to make her a rival, to open her nudity with her, during her lifetime ...
- A lion. 18:18
If anyone takes a wife and her mother: it is lawlessness .
- A lion. 20:14
Also, the Torah prohibits the king to "multiply wives" (Deut. 17:17), which the authors of the Talmud interpret as "no more than 18 wives" [21].
According to the book of Genesis, of the three forefathers of the Jewish people - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - only Isaac was a odnojecter. Abraham had concubines, whose number in the Torah is not specified, the first of them, Hagar, was given to him by Sarah because she could not give birth. Jacob became a polygamous not by his own will - when he worked for his uncle Laban 7 years for his wife Rachel, then after the wedding Laban gave him instead of Rachel her sister Leah, that Jacob found only the next morning. And although a week later he played the wedding with Rachel, but for Leah he had to work for Laban for another 7 years. Subsequently, Leah and Rachel tried to give birth to as many children as possible and called in to help maid servants (Zelf and Valla), whose children became not only the legitimate heirs of Jacob, but were also considered “like” half-brothers to children of legal wives. As a result, the four of them gave birth to Jacob 13 children - 12 ancestors of the tribes of Israel and one daughter.
In modern Judaism, there is the movement A-bait a-Yehudi a-shalem, which calls for legalizing polygamy to solve the demographic problem in modern Israel, referring to the end of the 1000 year ban on polygamy. Their opponents object to this by saying that the words “for 1000 years” mean “forever” [22].
List of polygamous men mentioned in the Tanakh:
Polygamy in Christianity
According to some researchers, the doctrine of the sinfulness of polygamy in Christianity was formed under the influence of Greco-Roman morality [6], however, those Christians who consider polygamy as a sin deny that such a teaching was formed as a result of influence on Christianity from the outside, and assert that in the New The covenant of monogamy takes on the character of a general norm [23]. “Multiple” marriage is currently being rejected by most of the trends in Christianity [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36 ] [37].
According to the canonical Christian point of view, the original marriage receives the blessing of God (Gen. 1:28). The Lord Jesus Christ, referring to this blessing: “Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will cling to his wife; and there will be [two] one flesh ”(Gen. 2:24), teaches:“ So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. So, what God has combined, let no man separate him ”(Matt. 19: 5-6). “Not two, but one flesh” indicates the constant metaphysical unity of the spouses. [24]
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Christ proclaimed the original Divine law of a monogamous and indissoluble marriage and elevated marriage to the dignity of the Sacrament [25].
The Lutheran Church teaches that man and woman together constitute human life, their union in marriage is the basic form of human existence, and that with the spread of the Christian faith throughout the land, marriage with one spouse became the norm even where other forms of marriage were adopted [ 38]. In the Lutheran Church, marriage is understood as a life union between a man and a woman and excludes the possibility of designating or understanding other unions as marriages [39].
The Apostle Paul in the First Epistle to the Corinthians teaches: “But [in order to avoid] fornication, each have his wife, and each have his husband” (1 Cor. 7: 2).
In the New Testament, there is a demand for deacons, presbyters and bishops to be “the husband of one wife”: “The deacon must be the husband of one wife” (1 Tim. 3:12), “For this to happen, I left you in Crete so that you would complete the unfinished and put in all the cities of the presbyters, as I ordered you: if one is blameless, the husband of one wife "(Titus 1: 5, 6)," the bishop must be blameless, one wife the husband "(1 Tim. 3: 2).
The 3rd rule of the 6th Council of Constantinople reads: “But we decided this for those who, as said, until the fifteenth day of the month of January, the fourth indiction, are exposed in the aforementioned wines, and tokmo for sacred persons; From now on, we define and rejoice the rule that says: who was baptized by two marriages, was obliged, or had a concubine, he cannot be a bishop, nor a presbyter, nor a deacon, or even in the list of the priestly [40].
Tertullian, a Christian apologist of the second century, wrote that marriage is legal, but polygamy is not:
In fact, we do not prohibit the union of a man and a woman, sanctified by God as the source of the breeding of the human race and testament for filling the earth and decorating the world, and, therefore, allowed but once. For Adam was the only husband of Eve, and Eve was his one wife, one woman, one rib.
Original text (lat.)
Non quidem abnuimus conjunctionem viri et feminae, benedictam ato ut utumiumis et al ity et nocto instructo asexis, atque exinde permissam, unam tamen. Nam et Adam unus Evae maritus et Eva una uxor illius, una mulier, una costa.
- [41]
In the Rules of St. Basil the Great, polygamy (πολυγαμα) is considered not only when one has many wives at the same time, but also when one gets married many times. According to the rules, only the first marriage is considered holy and blessed by God; for a second marriage, a well-known person is subject to canonical punishment, while the third marriage is considered to be unclean (ρυπάσματα) in the church and can only be tolerated, because it is still better than unbridled fornication (St. Basil the Great, 4, 50). Any further marriage is already called polygamy and Basil the Great refers to it as a beastly affair (κτηνώδες, belluinam rem), not a human one, and considers it a sin more than fornication [42].
There were other points of view. Thus, according to the American pastor Eugene Hillman, described in the book “A New Look at Polygamy” [43], the Roman Church imposed a ban on polygamy for the unification of Christian dogma with the Greco-Roman cultural traditions.
Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, Peter Akinola (Eng.) Russian. condemned polygamy among Christians [44].
Polygamy in Islam
Non-moral polygyny is recognized in Islam, where according to the Quran, a Muslim is allowed to have no more than four wives at the same time [45]. However, by the middle of the 20th century, in most Muslim countries polygyny was limited. In this case, concubines are not considered wives. For example, Suleiman the Magnificent was officially married only to one woman (Alexandra Aurora), and all the other inhabitants of his vast harem were not considered to be his wives.
Among the Hindus, the law introduced monogamy only in Sudras, people of lower and poor classes. In the Vaishya Varna one could have 2 wives, in the Kshatriya Varna - 2 or 3, in the Varna Varna - up to 4.
Russian Buddhists consider the question of polygamy everyday and beyond the competence of religion [46].
Tale of Bygone Years so writes about the life of Holy Prince Vladimir before baptism:
“ Vladimir was defeated by lust, and he had wives [...], and his concubines had 300 in Vyshgorod, 300 in Belgorod and 200 in Berestove, in the village, which is now called Berestovoye. And he was insatiable in fornication, leading married women to her and inflicting maidens . ”
In the Russian Empire, illegal mercenaries became merchants who acquired families in cities, which were the final points of their trade routes. This was possible due to the fact that the travel document did not indicate marital status. After this was discovered, a “marital status” column was added to the travel document, which later became a passport.
At the same time Muslims were allowed polygamy. In 1897, there were 841 433 men in the Fergana region and 715 387 women classified as "foreigners." In the Syr-Darya region - 766 257 men and 651 727 women of the same category. Of these, 389,529 men and 396,784 women in the Fergana region and 304,566 men and 324,520 women in the Syr-Darya region were married. According to these data, it is possible to estimate the percentage of polygamous families - about 1.9% in the Fergana region and about 6.5% in the Syr-Darya region [47].
In the USSR, in the early 1920s, a campaign was carried out to combat polygamy, similar to the campaign of dispossession of kulaks [47] [48]. The campaign took place mainly in the Muslim regions - in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
The criminal code of the RSFSR in 1922 did not provide for penalties for polygamy. In the criminal code of the RSFSR in 1926, initially, too, there was no punishment for polygamy [49]. Later, article 199 appeared there, providing for punishment for polygamy:
199. Arrogance or polygamy -
corrective labor for up to one year or a fine of up to one thousand rubles.
Note. The effect of criminal laws providing for arrogance and polygamy does not apply to cohabitation in marriages concluded before the publication of these laws.
- Criminal Code of the RSFSR edition 1926. Revision 11.01.1956
According to the judicial statistics for 1960-1965, in the Uzbek SSR every year in the courts from 30 to 66 cases of polygamy were considered, and in the Tajik SSR - from 30 to 47 [47].
In the 1960 Criminal Code of the RSFSR, the article on polygamy was set forth as follows:
Article 235. Doubleness or Polygamy
Bigamy or polygamy, that is, cohabitation with two or more women with a common household, -
is punished by imprisonment for up to one year or correctional labor for the same term.
- Criminal Code of the RSFSR 1960. The special part. Chapter 11
In the USSR, to become a polygam legally was impossible, and in fact it was also rather difficult. Хотя и были отдельные случаи, когда людям удавалось содержать две семьи[47].
В нынешнем российском законодательстве нет наказания за многожёнство. Лишь в Семейном кодексе есть статья 14 «Обстоятельства, препятствующие заключению брака», в которой говорится о том, что в брак не может вступить лицо, которое уже состоит в другом зарегистрированном браке. А статья 27 признаёт брак недействительным, если имеются обстоятельства, описанные в статье 14.
В непризнанной Чеченской Республике Ичкерия многожёнство впервые на территории бывшего СССР было узаконено и фиксировалось в паспортах, во всех формах учёта и статотчётности, в том числе жилищных и избирательных.
В июле 1999 года в Ингушетии указом Президента Аушева было официально разрешено многожёнство и ЗАГСам было приказано регистрировать подобные браки. Однако, почти сразу действие этого указа было формально приостановлено указом президента России Ельцина. Через год указ Аушева и практика были отменены верховным судом самой Ингушетии, как противоречащие российскому Семейному кодексу[50].
После окончания войны в Чечне и отмены норм Ингушетии ЗАГСами этих республик все полигиничные браки были аннулированы, а в новых паспортах бывших официальных многожёнцев согласно их желанию либо были убраны записи о всех жёнах, либо оставлена запись об одной жене.
Президент Чеченской республики Рамзан Кадыров последовательно выступает с призывами легализовать многожёнство[51][52]. Неоднократные предложения узаконить многожёнство поступали от депутатов и религиозных лидеров Татарстана[53], Башкортостана[54], а также некоторых северо-кавказских республик, например, Дагестана. Ни в одном из регионов предложения политиков так и не были одобрены. Но, несмотря на это, в некоторых мусульманских семьях мужчины всё же имеют сразу нескольких жён, хотя подобные браки не являются официальными[55][56][57]. Владимир Жириновский с 1993 года предлагает узаконить многожёнство на всей территории страны, в том числе для немусульманского населения, как средство решения демографического кризиса[58][59].
18 декабря 2007 года Конституционный Суд России отказался принять к рассмотрению жалобу Рязапова Нагима Габдылахатовича, в которой тот оспаривал соответствие Конституции России запрета на многожёнство, содержащегося в Семейном Кодексе России[60][61].
В 2015 году Руководитель администрации главы Чечни Магомед Даудов высказался за легализацию многоженства в российском законодательстве.[62]
Многожёнство мормонов
Американская карикатура 1877 года «12 жен Бригама Янгаоплакивают его смерть в супружеской постели». Гравюра Джозефа Фердинанда Кепплера (англ. Joseph Ferdinand Keppler) из архива Библиотеки Конгресса США[63]
Многожёнство первоначально было распространено в мормонской Церкви Иисуса Христа Святых последних дней (ЦИХСПД); так, её второй президент Бригам Янг имел 50 жён.
Начиная с 1862 года, Конгресс США принял ряд законов против многожёнства. Первый закон — Акт Моррила против двоежёнства — был принят 1 июля 1862 года и объявил многожёнство незаконным.
В 1887 году Конгресс принял закон Эдмунда-Такера ( англ. ), по которому запрещалось практиковать многожёнство, а также конфисковывалось все имущество организаций, практикующих многожёнство, кроме храмов и некоторых церковных зданий. ЦИХСПД обратилась в суд с обжалованием закона, вновь ссылаясь на свободу вероисповедания, но в 1890 г. в деле Бывшая организация мормонской Церкви против Соединенных Штатов Верховный Суд США вновь подтвердил запрет многожёнства.
Перед лицом полного уничтожения ЦИХСПД Уилфорд Вудраф, четвёртый президент ЦИХСПД, опубликовал Манифест, в котором говорилось, что мормонская церковь больше не будет заключать запрещенные законом браки. Президент Гровер Кливленд позднее помиловал всех тех, кто вступил в полигамный брак до 1890 г. В Юте, Айдахо, Оклахоме, Нью Мексико и Аризоне требовалось запретить многоженство в конституции этих штатов. По закону Айдахо все многожёнцы первоначально не могли занимать политические должности, а также на какое-то время в Айдахо всем, заключившим брак в мормонских храмах, было запрещено голосовать и занимать политические посты[64].
Today, the most famous US polygamy is Mormon Cody Brown (born Kody Brown) [65] - the husband of four wives and the father of 16 children, whom the authorities of Utastali state pursue for polygamy after his performance on the TV show "Sister Wives" [66] . Fleeing persecution, Cody Brown's family moved to Las Vegas (Nevada), because in most of the 49 US states polygamy is prohibited, and in the state of Utah it is illegal to even declare their intention to enter into a polygamous marriage, [67] and filed a lawsuit in the state of Utah with the requirement to cancel the criminal prosecution of polygamy [68], arguing that gay is not prohibited polygamy cohabitation. The trial of the case began in January 2013. [67] On December 13, 2013, US federal judge Clark Woddups ( Engl. Clark Waddoups) declared unconstitutional provisions of Utah law criminalizing polygamous cohabitation, but upheld the ban on registering polygamous marriages [69] [70] [71 ] [72]. After the announcement of the court’s verdict, the prosecutor announced that he was going to challenge this court decision on appeal [73].
After the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages throughout the United States on June 26, 2015, ex-Mormon Nathan Collier, inspired by this decision, appealed the prohibition of polygamy to the Billings city court [74] [75].
In Korea in the early Middle Ages, polygamy was the norm [5]. As of the beginning of the 20th century, polygamy was not allowed, but at the same time, a man could have as many concubines as he could contain [76]. In North Korea, polygamy was banned in 1946 by the Gender Equality Act [77]. In South Korea, polygamy is also prohibited [78], and until 2015, adultery was a criminal offense [79].
In the 1920s in Turkey, after Kemal Ataturk came to power, polygamy was prohibited, although polygamous marriages were only about 2%. However, in fact, polygamy is preserved. To address the issue of inheritance of property, children from the second and subsequent wives were registered as children of the only legitimate wife. Subsequently, a law was passed in Turkey, according to which children born out of wedlock were recognized as legitimate [47].
In Vietnam, polygamy was actively practiced for many centuries before the Communist Party of Vietnam banned it in 1959 [80] [81], but after the Vietnam War (1957–1975), illegal polygamy caused by a gender imbalance resulting from the death of a large number of men during war, it remains quite common [82].
In modern Kyrgyzstan, as of 2016, polygamy (“cohabitation with two or more women with a common household”), article 153 of the Criminal Code provides for up to 2 years of imprisonment [83].
In 1650, after a 30-year war in Germany, as a result of which the population of Germany fell from 16-17 million to 4 million people, in Nuremberg a decision was made to register marriages of two-youngsters for the next 10 years. At the same time, Germany lost only 100 years later the casualties from this war [84] [85] [86] [87] [88] [89].
In Great Britain and Norway, polygamy is officially recognized only when a man has registered marriage with the second and / or subsequent wives in those countries where local laws allow it [90]. Moreover, such a polygamist in the UK has the right to receive benefits for children from all wives with whom he has a marriage [91] [92] [93].
Sweden recognizes polygamous marriages concluded abroad [94] [95] [96], but only the first wife has the right to reside and to receive social benefits. [94] At the same time, marriage associations of a Swedish citizen with no more than four wives are recognized [95].
Maori prophet Rua Tapunui Kenan ( English ) and his wife. Early 20th century
See also: en: Polygamy in Australia and en: Polygamy in New Zealand
In Australian aborigines, polygamy was a common occurrence, with Christian missionaries actively fighting it [97]. Nowadays in Australia marriage of a man with several women is legally impossible, but at the same time marriages of polygamous who arrived in Australia are officially recognized both in terms of social payments for children and in divorce proceedings, in cases where such marriage unions were concluded in in accordance with the laws of countries that allow this possibility [98] [99] [100].
Among the Maori people, who had inhabited New Zealand since ancient times, polygamy was occasionally met among the leaders [101] [102]. In 1840, when Britain colonized New Zealand, polygamy was banned, but the colonial law that allowed traditional marriage for Maori was valid until 1888 [103]. Currently, New Zealand’s laws do not allow a man to marry a woman if the man is already married, but at the same time, marriage unions of polygamies are recognized, in countries where this is possible [104].
In Paraguay, there was a significant shortage of men of reproductive age after the end of the bloody war of this country with Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, which lasted from 1865 to 1870 (70% of the male population of Paraguay died during this war). Therefore, the government decided to adopt a policy known as free love in order to restore the country's population. That is, polygamy was approved on the grounds that there were up to 50 women per man [105].
Throughout the "belt of polygamy", stretching from Senegal in the west to Tanzania in the east, from one third to half of all women are married to a polygamist. A comparative analysis of marital traditions around the world, conducted by anthropologist Jack Goody, based on ethnographic atlas, revealed a historical correlation between extensive nomadic crop production and polygamy in most sub-Saharan African societies [106]. Based on the works of Esther Bozerup (dated. Ester Boserup), Goody concluded that in some sparsely populated regions of Africa, where nomadic agriculture takes place, most of the work is done by women [107] [108].
In the modern world, many cultures and religions allow or even encourage polygamy [48], and some African people even after the adoption of Christianity do not refuse polygamy [48] [109]
Examples of polygamous heads of state are South African President Jacob Zuma, who has 5 wives, as well as the monarchs of the Arabian countries, Brunei, Lesotho, and Swaziland, whose current king, Mswati III, is leading with 13 wives, and his predecessor Sobhuz II, who had 70 wives, far outnumbered by the number of wives of the Central African Emperor Bokassa. The fourth King of Bhutan, Jigme Singje Wangchuk, who reigned from 1972 to 2006, has four wives who are sisters.
According to research by American biologists from Arizona, published in the journal PLoS Genetics, polygamy had a great influence on the human gene pool, reducing the diversity of the male chromosomes [110] [111]. In addition, even in countries where there is a state ban on polygamy, the diversity of male chromosomes is also smaller, since in such countries one man more often becomes the father of children from different women than the woman is the mother of children from different fathers [112].
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