502
Although broken in the middle, the text mentions the brothers of
the mother of the girl—presumably to preclude them raising future
claims.5.1.2.2 A small group of texts describes a financial agreement
between a man and persons identified as “her father and mother.”
Six of these bear the heading †uppi zununnê (“Document of Main-
tenance”) and one is headed †uppi a¢uzati(“Document of Marriage”).
Other than this single occurrence of the term a¢ùzati, the texts con-
tain no reference to marriage or to marriage custom. Nonetheless,
the texts do record some kind of financial agreement between a man
and “her father and her mother,” and marriage seems to be the
only possible interpretation. It has been suggested that the †uppi
zununnê tablets report the transfer of goods at the time of the mar-
riage from the point of view of father-in-law, and the †uppi a¢uzati
report the transfer from the point of view of the groom.^90 Some of
the texts list only the groom and the parents of the bride as recip-
ients of goods—foodstuffs, garments, jars. Others list persons other
than the groom and the parents of the bride as receiving com-
modities. According to one interpretation, the persons listed received
goods from the parents of the bride on behalf of the groom as guests
for the wedding feast.^91 But this seems contra-indicated by the length
of time specified for the maintenance period—in one text seven years,
in another as many as fifteen. Another interpretation sees here the
custom of errebumarriage,^92 whereby upon marriage the couple enters
the household of the bride’s father and the groom becomes the
father’s legal son. According to this interpretation, the texts thus
record expenditures by the bride’s father on the couple’s behalf.
Finally, these commodities disbursed to persons other than the par-
ents of the bride may be payments made to the bride’s relatives to
compensate them and preclude them from raising future claims (i.e.,
maternal uncles of a sold girl renouncing future claims, discussed in
5.1.2.1).5.1.2.3 A narûrelates that land was given to a woman as mulùgu,^93
a gift to a daughter on the occasion of her marriage. According to(^90) CAD Z, 162–3.
(^91) Greengus, “Marriage Ceremonies,” 67–68.
(^92) Gurney, Middle Babylonian.. ., 136–38.
(^93) I R 70.
WESTBROOK_f12–484-520 8/27/03 12:27 PM Page 502