[ ]Mapping the Familythat the deceased had more than one wife. Furthermore, the possibility
of levirate is greatly increased in a society that permits polygyny, since a
levir might already be married when his childless brother dies and un-
able to marry his sister-in-law unless she becomes an additional wife.^68
A society may permit polygyny and still practice monogamy much of
the time. Burton Pasternak notes that “what a people ‘prefer’ or ‘believe’
they do may not precisely correspond to what they actually do.”^69 While
rabbinic texts like the Mishnah and the Talmuds include rules that as-
sume the possibility of polygynous households, the consensus among
scholars is that monogamy was the norm in Roman Palestine.^70 There
is less agreement about forms of marriage in Babylonia, but polygyny
seems to have been more acceptable there.^71
Although neither Palestinian nor Babylonian rabbinic sources ac-
knowledge a connection between a preference for monogamy and a
willingness to supplant levirate with halitza (Palestine) or between a
willingness to endorse polygyny and the promotion of levirate (Baby-
lonia), such a link seems likely. Other cultural preferences would have
reinforced these considerations. Roman society promoted alternative
forms of securing an heir for a childless man or a man without sons.
In Zoroastrian Babylonia, levirate was employed by non-Jews. Together
with forms of marriage, these “strategies of continuity” promoted levi-
rate in some places while discouraging or marginalizing it in others.^72
Through the promulgation of incest taboos, societies discourage
certain marriage partners. Societies also may attempt to regulate mar-
riage by privileging certain types of marriage. Some cultures promote
exogamy, marriage outside the descent group and/or place of residence.
Other societies encourage endogamy, marriage within a descent group,
caste, or community.^73 In endogamous groups, certain marriages be-
tween relatives may be particularly desirable. In most cases, these pre-
ferred unions are types of cousin marriage.
Rabbinic Judaism shows a strong preference for endogamy, marriage
within the religious community. Only marriages between Jews have le-
gal status in rabbinic law. Satlow argues that rabbinic Judaism also dis-
plays a preference for endogamy within “castes,” promoting marriages
within the priestly caste and marriages among rabbinic families.^74
The incest taboos of Judaism allow for marriage between uncles and
nieces and between cousins. Palestinian sources favor marriages be-