875
(EPEB39).^8 Thus, Jehoishma became “sister” to Zaccur, and it was he
who married her offto Ananiah son of Haggai, providing her with a
handsome dowry (EPEB41). In her old age (402 B.C.E.), when she
and her husband sold their remaining property to that Ananiah,
both her present title and past status were elevated. She was called,
like her husband, “servitor (l ̇nh) of YHW the God dwelling (in)
Elephantine the fortress” and, harking back to the past, first in Persian
“chief of the beloved (*friya-pati) of Meshullam son of Zaccur,” and
then in Aramaic “ (gw") of Meshullam son of Zaccur”
(EPEB45:2, 11, 24). Her present title may not have meant that she
was a Temple functionary but rather the wife of one with that title
(cf. Isa. 8:3). Yet the belated recollection of her past special status
is not only informative of relations between master and female slaves
but of significance for the sale transaction (see on EPEB45:2).- F
5.1 Marriage
5.1.1 The marriage contract was designated “document of wifehood”
(EPEB36:17, B44:7sl) and was drawn up between the groom and
the party responsible for the bride, be it father of a widow (EPE
B28), mother (TAD B6.4), adoptive brother (EPE B41), or master
(EPEB36). In language similar to that of a supplicant borrower for
a loan (TADC13:2–3), the groom asked for the hand of the bride
in wifehood. Though it was not constitutive of the marriage and
dealt primarily with pecuniary rights, the document cited a decla-
ration that may have been part of a marriage ceremony: “She is
my wife and I am her husband from this day (and) forever” (EPE
B28:4, 36:3–4, 41:4; TADB6.1:3–4; cf. Hos. 2:4).^9 The groom made
over to the bride’s representative a mohar, ten shekels in the case of
a first marriage (EPEB41:4–5), five shekels in the case of a subse-
quent marriage (EPEB28:4–5), and nothing for a handmaiden (EPE
B36:3–4). This moharbecame part of the dowry which the bride
brought into the groom’s house and under certain circumstances
became forfeit in case of repudiation by either bride or groom (EPE
B28:27 and n. 17, 41:15, 25).(^8) See Porten, Archives from Elephantine, 219–21.
(^9) See Porten and Szubin, “Status.. .,” 43–50.
westbrook_f24_863-881 8/27/03 1:35 PM Page 875