64

Under ancient Israelite patriarchy women's rights of property were, as already intimated, confined to what they had received as a gift. Generally speaking, wives are excluded from inheritance since they are regarded as property. The only passages to the contrary are met with in the book of Ruth: "Then he (Boaz) said to the kinsman,62 Naomi who has returned from the land of Moab is about to sell63 a parcel of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech,' for 'on the day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou buyest Ruth, the Moabitess, the widow of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. "65 That the inheritance has fallen to Naomi must be attributed to extraordinary circumstances. The narrative informs us that Elimelech had two sons, who no doubt succeeded to the inheritance left by their father. In course of time both Mahlon and Chilyon die without issue. Their Moabitish wives have no legal claim upon the estate whatever and hence the property reverts to Naomi, the widow of Elimelech. Whether this mode of inheritance is the remainder of a once established custom in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah is a matter of inference resting upon the somewhat similar law concerning the inheritance of daughters, whereof more below. Be this as it may, the passages just cited from the book of Ruth cannot

66

, instead of 7, ef. A.J.S.L. XIX, 145.

T

so Bertholet and, ומאתרות instead of וגם את רות Read **

Nowack.

65 Ruth 4: 3,5.

Numbers 27: 1-11; 36: 1-12.

materially affect our assertion regarding the older period of patriarchy owing to their post-exilic origin.67

With patriarchy on the ascendant and with the practice of marriage by purchase, the legal status of women is reduced to an extremely low level. It is important to bear in mind that wives are in a chattel relation to their husbands. This alone, apart from religious motives, would account for the exclusion of women in matters of succession.

That marriage by purchase had not become totally extinct among the Babylonians is seen from a document dated in the thirteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar: 'Dagil-ilani, son of Zambubu, spoke to Hamma, daughter of Nergal-iddin, as follows: "Give me thy daughter, Latubashinni, she shall be my wife." Hamma agreed and gave him her daughter to wife; and Dagil-ilani, in the joy of his heart, gave to Hamma for Latubashinni, her daughter, Ana-elibeli-amur, a maid, for half a mina of silver and a mina and a half of silver to boot. '68 The amount69 of the tirhatu70 or bride-price must be definitely agreed upon before marriage. Without it the suitor would be rejected by the young woman's parents.71

67 But see Kent, Beginnings of Hebrew History, 310, §134.

68 Kohler and Peiser, A.B.R., I, 7; Johns, B.A.L.C.L., 125.

69

Generally ten sheqels, although the amount might vary from one sheqel to three minas of silver.

"Attention is called to a tablet in which both the bride-price and the dowry seem to have been dispensed with. But this is an exception; cf. Kohler and Peiser, op. cit., I, 8.

According to the Code the tirḥatu shall be carefully set aside for an unmarried brother on division of the paternal estate: "If a man take wives for his sons and do not take a wife for his youngest son, after the father dies, when the brothers divide, they shall give from the goods of the father's house to their youngest brother, who has not taken a wife, money for a marriage settlement in addition to his portion and they shall enable him to take a wife. ""72 In another document a parcel of ground is presented to a marriageable son for a like purpose: 'Six hundred sar of good land, situated beside the field of Nihiti, the priestess of Shamash, and the field of Apatu, Ilushu-nasir has presented to Ibik-ilishu, his son, to the end that he may take a wife. "73

The bride-price was forfeited by the groom if he broke the engagement: 'If a man has given the marriage settlement and look with longing upon another woman and say to his father-in-law, "I will not take thy daughter;" the father of the daughter shall take to himself whatever was brought to him. But if the father of the girl say to his prospective sonin-law, "I will not give thee my daughter;" the father-in-law shall double the amount which was brought to him and return it. 975

74

The degradation implied in marriage by purchase was virtually removed, however, by the practice of returning the bride-price in the dowry or marriage

72 C.H., $166.

73 Meissner, Aus dem altbabylonischen Recht (Der Alte Orient, 1905), p. 20.

"C.H., 159.
" Ibid., $160.

portion,76 as a settlement from the father upon his daughter. In the event of the father's death before her marriage, the duty of endowing the bride fell on his heirs. Among the objects which go to make up the trousseau of a well-to-do Babylonian bride are: 'six gold sheqels for her ear, one gold sheqel for the front of her neck, . . . four rings of silver weighing four sheqels, ten garments, one ox, two three year old cows, thirty sheep, ... one Har-Ku-Gu stone, . . . one maialtu bed, five chairs' besides other household articles and servants." The marriageportion could also consist of house rent or annuities from the father's estate. It might even include landed property.78

The husband merely had the usufruct of the dowry. When paid in money, the dowry was sometimes invested by the husband with the wife's consent. How this was done is shown in Babylonian jurisprudence contemporaneous with the exile: 'Bunanitu, daughter of Harisaa, said thus to the judges of Nabuna’id, king of Babylon

"Abil-Addu-nathan, son of Nikmadu, had me to wife, and he took 31⁄2 mina of silver as my dowry, and one daughter I bore to him. I and Abil-Addunathan, my husband, traded with the silver of my dowry, and we bought 8 canes, a built house, the territory of a large property, which was within Borsippa, for 92/3 of a mina of silver, with 211⁄2 mina

7 sheriqtu.

"Ranke, Babylonian Legal and Business Documents, Series A, vol. VI, pt. 1, p. 26.

7 Johns, op. cit., 131; Kohler and Peiser, loc. cit.; Cook, L.M.C.Ḥ., 84, note 1.

of silver which belonged to Iddina-Marduk, son of Ikisha, descendant of Nur-Sin, as balance, and we fixed (it) as the price of that house, and we paid and received it together. In the fourth year of Nabuna'id, king of Babylon, I made an agreement with Abil-Addu-nathan, my husband, concerning my dowry, and Abil-Addu-nathan, in the kindness of his heart, sealed the 8 canes, (and) that house which is within Borsippa, and bequeathed it to me for future days, and on my tablet made it known thus: "212 mina of silver, which Abil-Addu-nathan and Bunanitu took from Iddina-Marduk, and paid as the price of that house, they received together." He sealed that tablet, and wrote thereon the curse of the great gods. In the fifth year of Nabuna'id, king of Babylon, I and Abil-Addu-nathan, my husband, took Abil-Addu-amara as our son, and wrote the tablet of his sonship, and made known 2 mina 10 sheqels of silver and the furniture of a house as the dowry of Nubta, my daughter. Fate took my husband, and now Aqabi-ilu, the son of my father-inlaw, has laid claim upon the house and everything which had been sealed and bequeathed to me, and upon Nabu-nur-ili, (the slave) whom we had acquired from Nabu-aḥe-iddina for silver. I have brought it before you, make a decision."

The judges heard their words, they read the tablets and contracts which Bunanitu brought before them, and they caused Aqabi-ilu not to have power over the house at Borsippa, which had been bequeathed to Bunanitu instead of her dowry, over Nabu-nur-ili, whom she and her husband had bought for silver, or over anything of Abil-Addu-nathan;