Between incest and exchange: Thoughts about the Athenian marriage model.

The notion of a marriage in a close degree, as defined by Claude Levi-Strau ss, sheds light on several aspects of Ancient Athenian kinship, and invites us to globally analyze marital practices and institutions. An analysis in terms of "proximity" of the alternation between close and far marriages, ta kes us beyond the endogamy/exogamy opposition and helps us refine current p aradigms. As the study of adoption and of anchisteia shows, each individual is placed in a group encompassing his parents through the men as well as t he descendants of these men's daughters and sisters. By placing this incorp oration of the wife-takers' descendants in its context and by enabling us t o understand the value placed on a patrilineal marriage, the analysis of co ntradictions in the exchange relation emphasizes marriage's fundamental rol e in Athenian society.