# Question regarding the origins of the casket choosing rigamarole in the Merchant of Venice **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2019, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-origins-of-the-casket-choosing-rigamarole-in-the-merchant-of-venice/842037 "2019-10-20T13:14:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-origins-of-the-casket-choosing-rigamarole-in-the-merchant-of-venice/842037/1 "2019-10-20T13:14:57Z")
Hi I’m sure I read somewhere that the method that Portia uses to find a suitable husband by choosing one of three caskets is an old Roman custom. But I couldn’t find any information on the origins of the custom. I hope someone can help me with that. I look forward to your feedback. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-origins-of-the-casket-choosing-rigamarole-in-the-merchant-of-venice/842037/2 "2019-10-20T14:20:02Z")
There was nothing about Old Roman Customs in the classes I took. We just accepted it as WS’s conceit of a lottery, created by her father to control her future. A little googling found this:[Mother Holle or Cliona and the Three Caskets](http://www.mother-god.com/mother-holle.html) > [@](#): > > All traditional literature seeks to depict transcendent Realities in one form or another. Behind the deceptively simple appearance of traditional myths and folk tales lies a wealth of spiritual science. The modern patriarchal world has banished these “fairy tales” to the nursery, not because they are too simple, but on the contrary, because they are so far above the level of modern materialism that it cannot begin to understand them. > > In order to illustrate this point, we offer the following commentary upon The Three Caskets, a story that has survived in many parts of the world and found its way, in different versions, into numerous folk tale collections. It is to be hoped that having studied this, the reader will look with new eyes upon all traditional stories. This tale, in fact, depicts the Lesser Mysteries; the first stage of the soul’s initiatic journey to Perfection, It is through this first journey that she sheds her worldly nature, recovers the scattered treasures of her soul and returns to her primordial state of True Maid from which she has fallen, regaining her “central” position on the World Axis from whence she may return to our Mother God. Which just goes to demonstrate that when it comes to WS, nothing is ever quite what it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-origins-of-the-casket-choosing-rigamarole-in-the-merchant-of-venice/842037/3 "2019-10-20T15:08:38Z")
It isn’t an actual Roman custom, it’s a fictional one. Shakespeare’s source for the casket plot is a late medieval text called [Gesta Romanorum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesta_Romanorum) (Deeds of the Romans), but it bears about as much resemblance to historical ancient Rome as the Disney version of _Beauty and the Beast_ does to 18th-century France. To all practical purposes, it’s a collection of fairy tales. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-origins-of-the-casket-choosing-rigamarole-in-the-merchant-of-venice/842037/4 "2019-10-22T20:26:19Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > It isn’t an actual Roman custom, it’s a fictional one. Shakespeare’s source for the casket plot is a late medieval text called [Gesta Romanorum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesta_Romanorum) (Deeds of the Romans), but it bears about as much resemblance to historical ancient Rome as the Disney version of _Beauty and the Beast_ does to 18th-century France. To all practical purposes, it’s a collection of fairy tales. Thank you bob++ and Fretful Porpentine