A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

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the husband had spent the wife’s dowry and was insolvent, his only

reply to her claim for maintenance is to let her go where she pleases.

5.1.4 Misconduct

A standard clause stipulates that if the wife “is seen/found with

another man, she shall die by the iron dagger.” The import of this

clause is not fully understood.^101

5.2 Adoption

Adoption documents are not plentiful, but there are sufficient refer-

ences to adoption to show that it was an important and flexible

juridical tool, as in earlier periods.

5.2.1 Capacity

Men and women could adopt, and adoption by one spouse did not

create filiation with the other. Likewise, a step-child was not regarded

as the step-parent’s child unless adopted. In BM 77425, the claim

that a man “entered the house of PN with his mother” is raised to

deny that he was PN’s son.^102 In VAS 5 129 (= NRV 17), a man

gives his son in adoption to his current wife, and in CTMMA 3

102, a childless man wishes to adopt his wife’s son by a previous

marriage but is denied permission by his own father. He is ordered

instead to adopt his brother.

5.2.2 Purpose

5.2.2.1 Most attested adoptions were of relatives, the purpose being

to ensure orderly succession of family property, especially where

prebends were concerned. Attested examples are of a nephew (AnOr 8

14; CTMMA 3 53; ROMCT 2 37 = van Driel, “Care.. .,” 190),

a grandson (BRL 1 10), a brother (instead of a step-son: CTMMA 3

102 above), and an unspecified relative (VAS 5 57/58, with 47).

Similar considerations lay behind a couple adopting a son and mar-

rying him offto their daughter (Nbn. 356). In VAS 6 184, a woman

adopts the son of her husband’s slave and his free wife, possibly because

(^101) Roth, “She Will Die.. .” Van Driel suggests that it applies to “flawed” brides—
without a dowry and with a dubious past (“Care.. .,” 192–94). It would be curi-
ous, however, if “flawed” brides in the sources outnumbered the others.
(^102) Reading lines 14'–15' (collated)...it-tiAMA-“ú a-naÉ PN i-ter-bi.. ., contrary
to the earlier interpretation of BRL 2 16 and Joannès, N.A.B.U.1996/72.
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