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Article: The origin of romantic love and human family life.
- Article from:
- National Forum
- Article date:
- January 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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"This whirlwind, this delirium of eros," wrote poet Robert Lowell. Poems, songs, novels, operas, plays, films, sculptures, and paintings have all portrayed romantic love in a variety of Western cultures for centuries. The love story of Isis and Osiris was recorded in Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. Ovid composed poems to romantic love in the first century B.C. in ancient Rome. And many other myths and legends about love come from antiquity.
Romantic love also is visible in "traditional" societies. In an examination of 166 cultures, anthropologists William Jankowiak and Edward Fischer found evidence of romantic love in 88 percent of them. People sang love songs. ...