Page:Next-of-kin Marriages in Old Iran.djvu/26

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IN OLD IRÂN.
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B. C., relates in verse 1371 of his comedy of The Frogs:—"He began reciting some of the verses from Euripides, where one perceives a brother miserable, having married his uterine sister." (3) Demosthenes in his Appeal against Eubulides of Miletus, asserts: "My grand-father had espoused his sister not uterine."[1] According to the Scholiast the marriage with a half-sister was permitted by law among the ancient Greeks. The details which M'Lenan has gathered on this subject, go to prove that the old Spartans were also accustomed to marry even their uterine sisters. Again Mr. Robertson Smith remarks in his "Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia" (p. 162):—"At Athens we find marriage with a half-sister not uterine occurring in later times, and side by side with this we find an ancient tradition that before Cecrops there was a general practice of polyandry, and consequently kinship only through mothers."

  1. ↑ For these references to Greek incest I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Justice West, President of the B. B. R. A. Society, and of Prof. James Darmesteter.
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