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divorced queen had acquired in Ugarit since her marriage would
remain there.^20
As for the latter case of royal divorce, the identity of the king is
not beyond doubt,^21 and nothing is known about the reason. The
divorce provisions, however, are very similar. The divorcee was
allowed to take everything that she had brought into his house
(RS 17.335:2–6),^22 but not every item of her property, such as the
manor she had acquired in Ugarit (RS 17.226), perhaps (part of )
her bride-price.
Widows could remarry, as attested in RS 17.21/33.5.2 Children
The father, as head of the family, appears as owner of his estate,
having authority over his wife (or wives), his children, and his daugh-
ter(s)-in-law, if any, as members of his household. This is clearly
shown in the provisions concerning rights of inheritance contained,
for example, in records of emancipation or adoption (see below).
The sale of a son by his father was permitted (as attested in RS
20.236), although we do not know the precise circumstances.5.3 Adoption
5.3.1 A free man or woman could adopt a son during his or her
lifetime.^23 Out of the seven more or less well preserved extant records
of adoption,^24 four state that the adoption is in “ammati sonship”
(màrùt ammati).^25 In one case (RS 17.88), the adoptive father had
previously purchased the adoptee-to-be. Adoptees regularly appear
as independent adults, being themselves parties to the transaction.
Once the contract was concluded, they entered the adoptive father’s(^20) See Westbrook, “Mitgift,” 279.
(^21) See most recently Singer, “A Political History of Ugarit,” 701ff.
(^22) See also Westbrook, “Mitgift,” 279.
(^23) Cf. Boyer, “La place des textes d’Ugarit.. .,” 302ff.; Rainey, “Family Relationships
in Ugarit,” 15f. Note that the verb used in these contracts differs according to
whether the adopter is a man (rakàsu) or a woman (leqû) (as remarked by Nougayrol,
Ugaritica 5, 173, n. 2, and van Soldt, Studies..., 426f., n. 52).
(^24) RS 15.92, 16.200, 16.295, 17.21, 17.88, 20.226, and 29.100 (see the list pro-
vided by van Soldt in his Studies.. ., 90, n. 80).
(^25) RS 15.92, 17.21, 20.226, and 29.100 (as noted below, one adoption in brother-
hood is also qualified as an ammatisonship adoption). “Despite various proposals
the word remains obscure” (van Soldt, Studies.. ., 500, n. 68).
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