Biology and History: The Triumph of Monogamy

Evolution of monogamous marriage by maximization of inclusive fitness

“…However, the historical and ethnographic evidence show that dominant individuals invariably attain extraordinary reproductive success even where marriage is strictly monogamous (Herlihy, 1995; Low, 2003; Scheidel, 2009). Ancient Rome is a case in point: despite the fanatical prescription of monogamous marriage, wealthy men fathered children by large numbers of slave women (Betzig, 1992a,b; Herlihy, 1995; Scheidel, 2009). Consistently, across data for 18 modern populations collated by Brown et al.…”

“…This would enable the cohesion of increasingly larger societies, ultimately leading to the formation of large nations (Alexander et al, 1979;Alexander, 1987). However, social monogamy long predates the establishment of large nation states (Herlihy, 1995): while the diffusion of norms prescribing monogamous marriage is commonly attributed to the spread of Christianity, restrictions on polygynous marriage appear in the earliest historical records (Westermarck, 1921). For instance, Babylonian men were legally entitled to an additional wife only under special circumstances, such as illness or infertility of the first (as documented by the Codex Hammurabi, early second millennium BCE BCE); strict monogamy is the only legally recognized form of marriage documented for ancient Greece and Rome (Herlihy, 1995;Scheidel, 2009).…”

“…More importantly, the 'socially imposed monogamy' model rests on the assumption that monogamous marriage significantly reduces the variance in male reproductive success (Alexander et al, 1979). However, the historical and ethnographic evidence show that dominant individuals invariably attain extraordinary reproductive success even where marriage is strictly monogamous (Herlihy, 1995;Low, 2003;Scheidel, 2009). Ancient Rome is a case in point: despite the fanatical prescription of monogamous marriage, wealthy men fathered children by large numbers of slave women (Betzig, 1992a,b;Herlihy, 1995;Scheidel, 2009).…”

“…However, the historical and ethnographic evidence show that dominant individuals invariably attain extraordinary reproductive success even where marriage is strictly monogamous (Herlihy, 1995;Low, 2003;Scheidel, 2009). Ancient Rome is a case in point: despite the fanatical prescription of monogamous marriage, wealthy men fathered children by large numbers of slave women (Betzig, 1992a,b;Herlihy, 1995;Scheidel, 2009). Consistently, across data for 18 modern populations collated by Brown et al (2009) we found no significant difference in variance in male reproductive success between societies practising monogamous marriage (n ¼ 6, median: 10.0, range: 2.3-23.6) and societies practising polygynous marriage (n ¼ 12, median: 10.4, range: 8.1-24.4) [Mann-Whitney U ¼ 27.00, z ¼ )0.84, n.s., r ¼ )0.20.…”

Policing Sex: Explaining Demons in the Cognitive Economies of Religion

“…One theory is that socially imposed exclusive monogamy is prompted by the emergence of large nation-states. Polygynous networks, as has been argued by anthropologists Herlihy (1995) and Gat (2000) and following the claims of Alexander (1987) and Chagnon (1988), for example, repress the growth of large-nation states. Alexander and MacDonald suggest that monogamy was socially imposed in Europe during the twelfth century in order to shift power out of the hands of elite males.…”