The woman at Athens even after marriage always retained her { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} or guardian,(66) who was at once her protector and trustee. He was probably the head of the { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI AND PERISPOMENI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} to which she originally belonged--her next of kin--and had great power over her.(67)
A case there is(68) where the heir to the property also takes the wife of the previous owner; but in this case the husband may have been { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} of his own wife, and so could bequeath, or give her away to whomever he liked.(69)
In the _Ordinances of Manu_, the limitations of the levirate are very strictly defined.(70) In the case of a man leaving a widow, she must not marry again, or she lost her place in heaven by his side.
But if she was childless, the next of kin of her husband must beget one son by her; he did not _marry_ her, and his connection with her _ceased on the birth of a son_.
(M36) The laws of Manu otherwise are strict against the marriage of close relations; a restriction not found in Greece.
Isaeus(71) mentions that it was thought quite natural for a man to marry his first cousin in order to concentrate the family blood, and prevent her dowry or whatever property might come to her from going outside his { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI AND PERISPOMENI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, and we know that even marriage with a half-sister (not born of the same mother) was not forbidden.
There are more instances than one in Homer of a man marrying his aunt, or niece.
The nearest resemblance to the levirate in Greece is the occasional custom at Sparta, mentioned already, of a wife being "commissioned" to bear children by another man into the family of her husband. But this exists in Manu, side by side with the above-mentioned custom of levirate proper.