Nuptiality Patterns and Household Structure on the Greek Island of Mykonos, 1849-1959

Abstract

The focus of the study is the population of the Cycladic island of Mykonos, Greece, from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. An overwhelming preponderance of nuclear households was found there in the mid- nineteenth century. The inheritance system facilitated the observed rules of neolocality. At the same time, the marriage pattern was clearly Mediterranean, i.e. with rather low age at first marriage for females, high for males, and low levels of permanent celibacy. Over the period of the study a gradual move away from this pattern was observed, mainly due to an increase in the female age at marriage. These findings are in line with other evidence from southern Mediterranean Europe, and indicate the strong influence of common socio economic and probably cultural elements.