For the Byzantines, the average age of marriage was 15 to 25 for boys and 13 to 16 for girls. Approval by the father and mother played a decisive role. The personal responsibility of both was required. But the marriage did not become effective until the wife was able to fulfill the reproductive purpose of the family; in other words, until she gave birth to a child. This had been stipulated by ancient Roman laws. Both the husband and the wife were eligible to ask for a divorce: women in case of adultery or a breech of the law or of any action taken against them; men also in the case of disobedience or inappropriate conduct by the wife.

Within the family (the corner stone of Byzantine society) the husband and wife were expected by Christian teachings to show virtue and faith. A woman's only goals in life were marriage and childbearing. Their marital status was traditionally inferior to that of men. The economic basis for the new family was the wife's dowry.

In respect of children, boy babies were generally more welcome than girls since the latter involved the future obligation of their parents to provide a dowry, which was always burdensome for low-income families with little or no property. Nevertheless, it cannot be said that girls were negatively received, for they took part in various family tasks, thus making up for the negative consequences of their birth. Until Justinian's time the prospects in store for a child of the lower social strata were either rejection and abandonment by parents, exploitation (through labour or even sale), an early marriage or dispatch to a monastery.