When and how did marriage become romanticized?

by unskilledexplorer

As far as aI know, people did not get married for love in ancient times. In modern times, people choose their partners on basis of love.

Sub-topics:

  • what was marriage for? was its function to make alliances among families for pragmatic reason, even in lower social classes?
  • Was it common to have a wife for aforementioned reasons and concubines for sex and love/romantic relationship at the same time? (and vice versa from the woman's standpoint)
  • When did this change and why?
mimicofmodes

There's always room for a new answer, but I have an older one that addresses this shift in the conception of marriage:

How true is the assumption that marriage in pre-20th century Europe was primarily about money and status?