- 935
5.1.3 Divorce
5.1.3.1 The technical term used for divorce is mu““uru (lit., “to
release”). According to the penalty clauses of marriage contracts, it
was effected by the pronouncement of verba solemnia: “You are not
(my) wife” (BM 42470); “fPN is not (my) wife” (Roth no. 5). In BM
64195 (+) BM 36799, the husband declares: “Go wherever you
please!” (l. 12': a“ar pànika ma¢ri alki).5.1.3.2 In some marriage contracts, divorce is associated with remar-
riage, the contingency in the penalty clause being that the husband
divorces his wife and marries another (Roth nos. 6, 8, 19, 26, 34;
BM 46618). The reason for this apparent redundancy is unclear: it
may be a way of indicating that the divorce is motivated by per-
sonal preference rather than based on justifiable grounds. There are,
however, a few cases where the penalty clause mentions remarriage
alone (Roth nos. 2, 4, 15). It could be an elliptical formulation of
the full clause but may well have been intended to apply the penalty
for divorce to taking another spouse. In Roth no. 17, the contin-
gencies of divorce and remarriage are in separate clauses (ll. 13–18
and 22–26 respectively), albeit with the same penalty.5.1.3.3 Only one contract (Roth no. 34) considers the possibility
of the wife divorcing her husband. The wife is penalized with the
loss of her dowry and possibly other means of support. In all other
cases, the husband is the protagonist and the parallel penalty clause
for the wife concerns adultery, not divorce (see 5.1.4 below).5.1.3.4 The contractual clauses impose upon the husband a severe
financial penalty for divorce (called uzubbû in Roth no. 5), usually
set at six minas. Sometimes the return of the dowry is mentioned
(Roth no. 15; with an additional payment of five minas in Roth no.
34); it may well have been understood in the other cases. In a mar-
riage of temple oblates, the penalty is only one mina (BM 42470).
The other consequence is that the wife is free: she may go “wher-
ever she pleases” (a“ar ßebàt/ma¢ri),^99 or sometimes it is said that she
may go to her father’s house.^100 In BM 31425 (+) BM 36799, where(^99) See Holz, “To Go and Marry.. .,” 248–49.
(^100) Roth nos. 5, 26, 30. In Roth 17, she goes to the house of a màr banê; see
Roth, “Women in Transition.. .,” 135–36.
westbrook_f26_911-974 8/27/03 1:36 PM Page 935