Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar, but mutually exclusive.
Ushabti of a concubine, with a naked body, jewelry underlying the breasts, and shaved pubis with visible vulva, wearing a heavy wig with erotic implications (painted wood, 2050–1710 BC)
Statue of Yang Guifei (719–756), the favoured concubine of Emperor Tang Xuanzong of China
Portrait of a concubine, by Chinese painter Lam Qua, 1864
16th-century Samurai Toyotomi Hideyoshi with his wives and concubines
Concubinatus was a monogamous union, intended to be of some duration but not necessarily permanent, that was socially and to some extent legally recognized as an alternative to marriage in the Roman Empire. Concubinage became a legal concern in response to Augustan moral legislation that criminalized adultery and imposed penalties on some consensual sexual behaviors outside marriage.
The concubina Fufia Chila is included in this family gravestone set up by Marcus Vennius Rufus to commemorate himself, his father and mother, and his wife (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli )
Fragment from an equestrian statue of Augustus (1st century BCE)
Gravestone set up by Gaius Caesius Faustus, the freedman of Gaius Caesius, for himself; his natural son, Gaius Caesius Nothus; his former master's son, Gaius Caesius; Valeria Galla, possibly his concubine, identified as the freedwoman of a Lucius Valerius; and Lucius Cornelius Eleutherus (1st century AD)
