Editing Incest (section)

===Antiquity===
In [[ancient China]], first cousins with the same surnames (i.e. those born to the father's brothers) were not permitted to marry, while those with different surnames could marry (i.e. maternal cousins and paternal cousins born to the father's sisters).<ref>{{cite book |last=Gulik |first=Robert Hans van |title=Sexual Life in Ancient China: a Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society from ca. 1500 B.C. till 1644 A.D. |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |year=1974 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u9MUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA19 |isbn=978-90-04-03917-9}}</ref>

In [[Achaemenid Persia]], marriages between family members, such as half-siblings, nieces and cousins took place but were not seen as incestuous. However, Greek sources state that brother-sister and father-daughter marriages allegedly took place inside the royal family, yet it remains problematic to determine the reliability of these accounts.{{sfn|Brosius|2000}} According to [[Herodotus]], Shah [[Cambyses II]] supposedly married two of his sisters, [[Atossa]] and Roxane.{{sfn|Dandamayev|1990|pp=726–729}}{{sfn|Brosius|2000}} This would have been regarded as illegal. However, Herodotus also states that Cambyses married [[Otanes]]' daughter [[Phaedymia|Phaidyme]], whilst his contemporary [[Ctesias]] names Roxane as Cambyses' wife, but she is not referred to as his sister.{{sfn|Brosius|2000}} The accusations against Cambyses of committing incest are mentioned as part of his "blasphemous actions", which were designed to illustrate his "madness and vanity". These reports all derive from the same Egyptian source that was antagonistic towards Cambyses, and some of these allegations of "crimes", such as the killing of the [[Apis bull]], have been confirmed as false, which means that the report of Cambyses' supposed incestuous acts is questionable.{{sfn|Brosius|2000}}

Several of the Egyptian [[king]]s married their sisters and had several children with them to continue the royal bloodline. For example, [[Tutankhamun]] married his half-sister [[Ankhesenamun]], and was himself the child of an incestuous union between [[Akhenaten]] and an unidentified sister-wife. Several scholars, such as Frier et al., state that sibling marriages were widespread among all classes in Egypt during the Graeco-Roman period. Numerous [[papyrus|papyri]] and the Roman census declarations attest to many husbands and wives being brother and sister, of the same father and mother.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=N. |title=Life in Egypt under Roman Rule |isbn=978-0-19-814848-7 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press|Clarendon Press]] |year=1983 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeinegyptunder0000lewi }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Frier |first1=Bruce W. |last2=Bagnall |first2=Roger S. |author2-link=Roger S. Bagnall |title=The Demography of Roman Egypt |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-521-46123-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Shaw |first=B. D. |title=Explaining Incest: Brother-Sister Marriage in Graeco-Roman Egypt |journal=Man |series=New Series |volume=27 |issue=2 |year=1992 |pages=267–299 |jstor=2804054 |doi=10.2307/2804054}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hopkins |first=Keith |author-link=Keith Hopkins |year=1980 |title=Brother-Sister Marriage in Roman Egypt |url=http://humweb.ucsc.edu/jklynn/ancientwomen/HopkinsBrotherSisterMarriage.pdf |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=22 |pages=303–354 |doi=10.1017/S0010417500009385 |issue=3 |s2cid=143698328 |access-date=21 July 2013 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180202/http://humweb.ucsc.edu/jklynn/ancientwomen/HopkinsBrotherSisterMarriage.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, it has also been argued that the available evidence does not support the view that such relations were common.<ref>Walter Scheidel. 2004. "Ancient Egyptian Sibling Marriage and the Westermarck Effect", in ''Inbreeding, Incest, and the Incest Taboo: the state of knowledge at the turn of the century'' Arthur Wolf and William Durham (eds) Stanford University Press. pp. 93–108</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Huebner | first1 = Sabine R | author-link = Sabine R. Huebner | year = 2007 | title = 'Brother-Sister' Marriage in Roman Egypt: a Curiosity of Humankind or a Widespread Family Strategy?. | journal = The Journal of Roman Studies | volume = 97 | pages = 21–49 | doi = 10.3815/000000007784016070 }}</ref><ref>Huebner, Sabine R. The family in Roman Egypt: a comparative approach to intergenerational solidarity and conflict. Cambridge University Press, 2013.</ref>

The most famous of these relationships were in the [[Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemaic royal family]]; [[Cleopatra VII]] was married to two of her younger brothers, [[Ptolemy XIII]] and [[Ptolemy XIV]], whilst her mother and father, [[Cleopatra V of Egypt|Cleopatra V]] and [[Ptolemy XII]], were also brother and sister. [[Arsinoe II]] and her younger brother [[Ptolemy II|Ptolemy II Philadelphus]] were the first in the family to participate in a full-sibling marriage, a departure from custom.<ref name="Familiarity Breeds: Incest and the">{{cite journal |last1=Ager |first1=Sheila L. |title=Familiarity Breeds: Incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty |journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies |date=2005 |volume=125 |pages=1–34 |doi=10.1017/S0075426900007084 |jstor=30033343 |pmid=19681234  |issn=0075-4269}}</ref> A union between full siblings was counternormative in Greek and Macedonian tradition, and prohibited by the laws of at least some cities.<ref name="Familiarity Breeds: Incest and the"/><ref name="The Routledge Companion to Women and Monarchy in the Ancient Mediterranean World">{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= The Routledge Companion to Women and Monarchy in the Ancient Mediterranean World|publisher= Taylor & Francis|date= 9 November 2020|isbn= 9780429783982}}</ref>

[[File:Tutankhamun and his wife B. C. 1330.jpg|thumb|Egyptian king [[Tutankhamun]] married his half-sister [[Ankhesenamun]].]]

The fable of ''[[Oedipus]]'', with a theme of inadvertent incest between a mother and son, ends in disaster and shows ancient taboos against incest, since Oedipus blinds himself in disgust and shame after his incestuous actions. In the 'sequel' to ''Oedipus'', ''[[Antigone (Sophocles play)|Antigone]]'', his four children are also punished for their parents' incestuousness. Incest appears in the commonly accepted version of the birth of [[Adonis]], when his mother, [[Myrrha]], has sex with her father, [[Cinyras]], during a festival, disguised as a [[prostitute]].

In [[ancient Greece]], [[Ancient Sparta|Spartan King]] [[Leonidas I]], hero of the legendary [[Battle of Thermopylae]], was married to his [[niece]] [[Gorgo, Queen of Sparta|Gorgo]], daughter of his half-brother [[Cleomenes I]]. Greek law allowed marriage between a brother and sister if they had different mothers: for example, some accounts say that [[Elpinice]] was for a time married to her half-brother [[Cimon]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Bios/Elpinice.html |title=Elpinice |last=Lahanas |first=Michael |year=2006 |encyclopedia=Hellenic World encyclopaedia |publisher=Hellenica |access-date=6 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090921025414/http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Bios/Elpinice.html |archive-date=21 September 2009 }}</ref>

Incest is mentioned and condemned in [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' Book VI:<ref>[http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_vergil_aeneid_latin_6.htm Vergil Aeneid Book VI in Latin: The descent to the Underworld] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921102854/http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_vergil_aeneid_latin_6.htm |date=21 September 2011 }}. Ancienthistory.about.com (15 June 2010). Retrieved on 2011-10-01.</ref> ''hic thalamum invasit natae vetitosque hymenaeos''{{nbsp}}{{ndash}} "This one invaded a daughter's room and a forbidden sex act".

[[File:Yaxchilán lintel.jpg|thumb|Maya king [[Itzamnaaj B'alam II|Shield Jaguar II]] with his [[avunculate marriage|aunt-wife]], [[Lady Xoc]] AD 709]]

[[Roman law|Roman civil law]] prohibited marriages within four degrees of consanguinity<ref name="SRCL514">Patrick Colquhoun, ''A Summary of the Roman Civil Law, Illustrated by Commentaries on and Parallels from the Mosaic, Canon, Mohammedan, English, and Foreign Law'' (London: Wm. Benning & Co., 1849), p. 513-4</ref> but had no degrees of affinity with regard to marriage. Roman civil laws prohibited any marriage between parents and children, either in the ascending or descending line [[:wikt:ad infinitum|ad infinitum]].<ref name="SRCL514"/> Adoption was considered the same as affinity in that an adoptive father could not marry an [[:wikt:unemancipated|unemancipated]] daughter or granddaughter even if the adoption had been dissolved.<ref name="SRCL514"/> Incestuous unions were discouraged and considered ''[[nefas]]'' (against the laws of gods and man) in [[ancient Rome]]. In AD 295, incest was explicitly forbidden by an imperial edict, which divided the concept of ''incestus'' into two categories of unequal gravity: the ''incestus iuris gentium'', which was applied to both Romans and non-Romans in the Empire, and the ''incestus iuris civilis'', which concerned only Roman citizens. Therefore, for example, an Egyptian could marry an aunt, but a Roman could not. Despite the act of incest being unacceptable within the Roman Empire, Roman Emperor [[Caligula]] is rumored to have had sexual relationships with all three of his sisters ([[Julia Livilla]], [[Drusilla (sister of Caligula)|Drusilla]], and [[Agrippina the Younger]]).{{sfn|Potter|2007|p=62}} Emperor [[Claudius]], after executing his previous wife, married his brother's daughter, Agrippina the Younger, and changed the law to allow an otherwise illegal union.{{sfn|Potter|2007|p=66}} The law prohibiting marrying a sister's daughter remained.<ref>{{cite book |first=Judith Evans |last=Grubbs |title=Women and the Law in the Roman Empire: a Sourcebook on Marriage, Divorce and Widowhood |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4X8HXDwMHawC&pg=PA137 |access-date=7 November 2011 |year=2002 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-15240-2 |pages=137–}}</ref> The taboo against incest in ancient Rome is demonstrated by the fact that politicians would use charges of incest (often false charges) as insults and means of political disenfranchisement.

In [[Norse mythology]], there are themes of brother{{ndash}}sister marriage, a prominent example being between [[Njörðr]] and his [[Sister-wife of Njörðr|unnamed sister]] (perhaps [[Nerthus]]), parents of [[Freyja]] and [[Freyr]]. [[Loki]] in turn also accuses Freyja and Freyr of having a sexual relationship.