Writing was invented by the Sumerians around 3500 BC. Many of their clay tablets
have survived, including one with history's first love poem. Archaeologists bestowed
upon it the rather mundane title "Istanbul #2461," but you can't expect
these guys to understand poetry. The author is unknown, but it's believed to have
been recited by the chosen bride for Sumerian King Shu-Sin. Here's a sample:
Bridegroom, let me caress you,
My precious caress is more savory than honey,
In the bedchamber, honey filled,
Let us enjoy your goodly beauty,
Lion, let me caress you,
My precious caress is more savory than honey.
To read the poem in its entirety, click here.
The author signs off with: "Your loving wife who has had a child."
Most Marriages
Bigamous Male A man using the name Giovanni Vigliotto contracted
104 marriages from 1949 to 1981 in 27 states and 14 countries. On March
28, 1983 in Phoenix, AZ, Vigliotto received a sentence of 28 years for
fraud and six for bigamy and was fined $336,000.
FemaleIt has been recorded that Mrs. Theresa Vaughan (or
Vaughn), aged 24, while on trial in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, on
December 19, 1922 admitted under oath that in the past 5 years she had
acquired 61 husbands in 50 cities throughout England, Germany, and South
Africa, averaging a marriage a month.
Polygamous
Fath-'Ali Shah of Persia (1771-1834)—1000
wives Taking the Scriptural assurance "Instead
of thy fathers thou shalt have children, whom thou mayest make princes
in all lands" to heart, the Shah wedded an extraordinary amount
of women to birth his princelings. The Nasikhu't Tavarikh, a great modern
Persian historical work, fixes the number of his wives at over 1,000.
He distributed his colossal male progeny in every government post throughout
the kingdom, much to the mortification and sorrow of its citizens. Hence
the Persian proverb "Camels, fleas, and princes exist everywhere."
King Solomon of Israel (c. 973-c.
933 BC)—700 wives The third king of Israel he reigned some
40 years, during which time he enjoyed 700 wives and from 60 to 300
mistresses. His women were both Israeli and foreign, taken to further
political alliances and were among the most beautiful in all antiquity.
Although polygamy was the matrimonial standard of the time, later rabbis
claimed that Solomon's single son was proof of punishment by God for
Solomon's violation of monogamy.
Queen Kahina of the Berbers (c. 650?-702)—400
husbands Chief of the Berbers in Northern Africa,
Kahina relied on her cunning and indomitable will to withstand the Arab
invasions of her homeland. Not much can be definitively said about this
enigmatic figure. She was not especially attractive—later Arab historians
unflatteringly describe her as "fleshy"—but was such a intriguing
figure that centuries after her passing she was still romanticized in
French literature. It one account it is said she ruled over a mighty
harem of men, servile and willing to accommodate her every wish.
King Ibn Saud (1880-1953)—400 wives The supreme ruler of the Arabian peninsula,
at any one point he had four wives, four concubines and four slaves
to satisfy his desire. Whenever they ceased to amuse him he divorced
them and remarried, which occurred quite frequently. He married into
over 30 tribes and used these links to gain their political support.
To him women were nothing more than a combination of a source of pleasure
and a breeding machine, an exchangeable commodity that he kept in a
windowless basement because "windows let lovers in."
Maharaja Bhupendra Singh of Patiala
(1670-1733)—365 wives Once said, "wine, fish, meat, alcohol
and plenty of sex was good for the soul." A toweringly handsome
Sikh with a colorful personality, he was famed for his sexual prowess
and appetite and forever on the lookout for pretty women, even going
so far as to kidnap them when they refused his overtures. Every evening
he would light 365 lanterns around his palace, each with the name of
one of his wives inscribed on it. The wife whose lamp went out first
would be his for the night. For leap years, he'd take the night off.
Youngest Widow
Fatma Sultan, daughter of Sultan Ibrahim (r. 1640-1646), became the wife of the
second vizier Yusuf Pasa when she was three years old (child marriages were not
uncommon in the Ottoman empire during this period). A year later, the vizier was
killed on the Sultan's orders, making Fatma a widow at the age of four. That very
same year, she married again, this time to Admiral Fazil Pasa. After the lavish
wedding but before their union was consummated, her husband was sent to a mission
abroad, never to return. Twelve years later Fazil Pasa died, making her a second-time
widow at the age of sixteen. Fatma wisely decided never to marry again.