[Avodah] the cohen gadol and marriage to a pubescent girl

[Zev Sero]

Minden wrote:
> RMYG wrote:
>>> (As an aside, physical maturity was probably even later in the time
>>> of the gemore, up to four or five years later.)

>> What do you mean here?
 
> Menarche, which dropped from about 17 years to less than 12 during the
> last 150 years. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puberty#Historical_shift )
> It's difficult to extrapolate to the time of the gemore, though - it
> depends on a list of factors such as ethnic genetics, nutrition and the
> like. Still, chances are that at the time of the gemore, girls were
> nubile at a higher age than today, thus even widening the gap to today's
> societal standards.

It's quite clear that through most of history, including Roman and
Medieval times, it was about 12-13, both for Jews and others.  It's
very unlikely that it was ever as high as 17 for any large population,
over any long time frame; that figure was probably taken from an
atypical sample.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas