confarreatio

thumb | right | alt=Photograph of a statue depicting two people | Ancient Roman marriage (Baths of Diocletian Museum, Rome) In ancient Rome, '''' was a traditional patrician form of marriage. The ceremony involved the bride and bridegroom sharing a cake of emmer, in Latin far or panis farreus'', hence the rite's name. Far is often translated as "spelt", which is inaccurate as the grain used was Triticum dicoccum (emmer), not Triticum spelta. The Flamen Dialis and pontifex maximus presided over the wedding, and ten witnesses had to be present. The woman passed directly from the hand (manus) of her father or head of household (the pater familias) to that of her new husband.

Having parents who were married by was a prerequisite for becoming a Vestal or the Flamen Dialis. seems to have been limited to those whose parents were also married by , but later, perhaps with the rise of plebeian nobiles, this requirement must have been relaxed. Scipio Africanus presumably married his wife Aemilia Tertia by , because their elder son was Flamen Dialis; yet Scipio's mother Pomponia was a plebeian.