Abstract Book of the 4th World Conference on Gender Equality
Year: 2026
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Two weddings and a Roman jurist: Herennius Modestinus’ 1800-year-old definition and its impact on modern-day same-sex marriage in Greece
Myrto Pagoropoulou
ABSTRACT:
In June 2008, sixteen years before marriage equality became legal in Greece, two same-sex weddings took place for the first time in the small and unassuming island of Telos, solemnized by the island’s mayor. In the nine-year legal battle that ensued for their annulment, the Greek civil courts, in lack of a better legal basis, relied solely on a relic definition of marriage, attributed to Herennius Modestinus, a Roman jurist in 250 AD, according to whom, “Marriage is a union of a man and a woman, a partnership for the whole life involving divine as well as human law.” In this presentation, I will explore the unexpected influence of this de jure irrelevant definition through its origin in the Roman and Byzantine legal orders, its adoption by the modern Greek state and the Orthodox Church, by analyzing 19th-21st century Greek legal scholarship and jurisprudence, as well as the dissection of each one of its points that led to its eventual holistic rejection in 2024 with the declaration of marriage equality in Greece.
Keywords: Constitutional Law, Family Law, LGBTQ+ Rights, Religion, Roman Law