Women in the Ancient Near East by Women in the Ancient Near East (Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancient World) (Retail)

Author:Women in the Ancient Near East (Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancient World) (Retail)
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-135-00824-6
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

Middle Assyrian laws (c. 1050 BC)

MAL A (Middle Assyrian Laws tablet A) is a single large tablet from Assur and written in Middle Assyrian script probably in the eleventh century BC, recording some 60 provisions. A small fragment from Nineveh dating to the Neo-Assyrian period, some 300 years later, is a partial duplicate to the first provisions of MAL A and thus indicates that the provisions were recopied in the scribal schools.

Almost all the provisions in MAL A involve women as actors or victims. In general, the women in these Assyrian provisions are significantly less autonomous and enjoy considerably fewer rights than do women in the earlier (LH, LE) or later (LNB) Babylonian laws, though it is not easy to conclude whether this is a function of the general position of women in the Middle Assyrian period or simply a function of the nature and purpose of this particular composition: as may be clear from the first and final provisions, the authority of a husband or father over his wife or daughter is constrained only by the higher authority of the temple or palace.

A § 1 If a woman, either a wife-of-a-man or a daughter-of-a-man, should enter into a temple and steal something from the sanctuary, and it is discovered in her possession or they prove the charges against her or convict her: […] a divination(?), they shall inquire of the deity; they shall treat her as the deity instructs them.

A § 2 If a woman, either a wife-of-a-man or a daughter-of-a-man, should speak something disgraceful or utter a blasphemy: that woman bears responsibility for her offense; they shall have no claim against her husband, her sons, or her daughters.

A § 3 If a man is ill or dead, and his wife should steal something from his house and give it either to a man or to a woman or to anyone else: they shall kill the wife of the man as well as the receivers (of the goods).

And if a wife-of-a-man, whose husband is healthy should steal from her husband’s house and give it either to a man or to a woman or to anyone else: the man shall prove the charges against his wife and shall impose a punishment; furthermore, the receiver who received (the goods) from the wife of the man shall give (back) the stolen goods, and they shall impose a punishment on the receiver identical to that which the man imposed on his wife.

A § 4 If either a slave or a slave-woman should receive something from a wife-of-a-man: they shall cut off the slave’s or slave-woman’s nose and ears; they shall restore the stolen goods; the man shall cut off his wife’s ears. But if he releases his wife and does not cut off her ears, they shall not cut off (the nose and ears) of the slave or slave-woman and they shall not restore the stolen goods.

A § 5 If a wife-of-a-man should steal something with a value greater than 300 shekels of

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