In certain
cases the wife seems to have had the power of claiming
alimony from her husband, though we do not know what were
the circumstances which were held sufficient to justify the claim.
Thus, in the third year of Nabonidos, “Nahid-Merodach, the son
of Samas-baladhu-iqbi, voluntarily granted his wife Ramûa and
his son Arad-Bunene four qas of food and
three qas of beer daily, as well as fifteen
manehs of wool, one pi of sesame, one
pi of salt, and sixty qas
of sweetmeats each year,” with the provision
that the grant should never be cancelled or willed away. The
son, however, is included in the gift, and it is possible, therefore,
that Ramûa was little more than a concubine.
A
similar case, in which, however, it is a testatrix who hands
over her property to her son during her lifetime, is recorded in a
deed dated at Babylon the 10th day of Sivân, in the second year of
Nabonidos. The deed is as follows: “Gugûa, the daughter of
Zakir, the son of a native of Isin, has voluntarily sealed and
delivered to her eldest son, Ea-zir-ibni, her dowry, consisting of
one maneh which is in the keeping of Nebo-akhi-iddin, the son of
Sula, the son of Egibi; 35 shekels which have been mortgaged to
Tabnea, the son of Nebo-yusallim, the son of Sin-sadunu, and 20
shekels which are due from Tasmetum-ramat, the daughter of
Arad-Bel, the son of Egibi, as well as a field producing 48 qas
of seed on the canal of Kish. As regards the maneh and 56
shekels belonging to Gugûa, which, in the absence of her eldest
son, Ea-zir-ibni, she has divided between her younger sons, Nebo-akhi-bullidh,
Nergal-ina-esi-edher, Itti-Samas-baladhu, and Ninip-pir-utsur,
Ea-zir-ibni shall have no claim to them. Gugûa has delivered
to Ea-zir-ibni, her eldest son, one maneh, now in the hands
of Nebo-akhi-iddin, 55 shekels in the hands of Tabnea, 50 shekels
in the hands of Tasmetum-ramat, and a field bearing 48 qas of
seed. As long as Gugûa lives, Ea-zir-ibni shall give his mother Gugûa, as
interest upon the property, food and clothing. Gugûa shall alienate
none of it out of affection or will it away. Ea-zir-ibni shall not be
disturbed in his possession.” The names of three witnesses are
attached to the deed, which was “sealed in the presence of Babâ,
the daughter of Nebo-zir-lisir, the son of Egibi.”
We
hear, however, of a “little girl of six years of age” being
sold for 17 shekels in the thirteenth year of Nabonidos, but she was
doubtless an orphan.
Schliemann,
Ilios, pp. 471, 472. Mr. Head shows that the
maneh in question is identical with the Babylonian silver maneh of
8,656 grains troy, or 561 grammes, though the latter is now more
usually fixed at 546 grammes.
Our
learned author has been misled in this paragraph by the
utterly erroneous copy and translation of Father Scheil. The letter
reads “To Sin-iddinnam from Hammurabi. The goddesses of
Emutbalim which are assigned to thee, the troops under the command
of Tnuhsamar will bring to thee in safety. When they reach
thee, with the troops which thou hast destroy the people, and the
goddesses to their dwellings let them bring in safety.”—Cr.