what I have already suggested. Perhaps by looking at the matter
afresh you may do better. Suggestions welcome!
There is of course another possibility we haven’t considered–
the possibility of a love-match between two people of unequal
status.Amor omnia vincitas the saying goes, and the Hittite Laws
are humane enough to recognise and provide for this.
The Laws are also aware that the course of true love, or arranged
marriages, did not always run smooth and sometimes ended up
in divorce. What is to happen to the children of a terminated
marriage? That depends on the status of the marriage-partners.
In the case of mixed marriages, the Laws inform us that if the
husband is free and his wife a slave, the property they have
accumulated is equally divided between them, but the wife takes
only one of the children and her husband all the rest. If on the other
hand, the woman is free and her husband a slave, she is the one who
gets all except one of the chidren. This we learn from Clauses 31
and 32 of the Laws. In neither of these cases is any reference made
to a brideprice as part of the original marriage settlement. Perhaps
this is why a free partner in such a marriage apparently retained
his/her free status–as these clauses clearly imply. At least such an
explanation would be consistent with Hoffner’s interpretation of
Clauses 34 and 36, which we’ve just discussed.
ROYAL BRIDES
To my way of thinking, the women most to be pitied in Hittite society
are those belonging to the most elite level of this society – the
daughters of the king. These were valuable diplomatic assets, to be
despatched to the marriage-beds of the king’s foreign peers or
important vassal rulers. Marriage-alliances generally involving Hittite
princesses (occasionally Hittite princes) were an important means of
forging or consolidating alliances between Hatti and its contempor-
aries. Thus in the wake of the‘Eternal Treaty’concluded in 1259
between Hattusili III and Ramesses II, Hattusili sent one of his
daughters to Egypt to marry the pharaoh. The king’s wife Puduhepa,
who acted as royal matchmaker on a number of occasions, made the
preparations for the princess’journey to Egypt for the marriage.
WOMEN,MARRIAGE AND SLAVERY 153