In case the girl’s father rejected the suitor after the contract had been made, he was required to return double the amount of the bride price. The betrothals took place usually when the parties were young, and as a rule the engagements were made by the parents. A marriage contract was necessary to make a marriage legal. In some cases peculiar conditions were made, such as the bride’s being required to wait upon the mother-in-law, or even upon another wife. If it was stipulated that the man should not take a second wife, the woman could secure a divorce in case her husband broke the agreement.
Concubinage was indulged in, especially when the wife was childless and she had not given her husband a slave maid that he might have children. The law fully determined the status of the concubine and protected her rights.
At the husband’s death the wife received her marriage-portion and what was deeded to her during the husband’s life. If he had not given her a portion of the estate during his life, she received a son’s share and was permitted to retain her home, but she could marry again. A widow with young children could only marry with the consent of the judge. An inventory of the former husband’s property was made and it was intrusted to the couple for the dead party’s children.
If a man divorced a woman, which he could do by saying to her “Thou art not my wife!” she received her marriage-portion and went back to her father’s home. In case there was no dowry, she received one mina of silver, if the man belonged to the gentry; but only one-third of a mina if he was a commoner.
For infidelity the woman could divorce her husband and take the marriage-portion with her. In case of a woman’s infidelity, the husband could degrade her as a slave; he even could have her drowned or put to death with the sword. In case of disease, the man could take a second wife, but was compelled to maintain his invalid wife in his home. If she preferred to return to her father’s house, she could take the marriage-portion with her.
THE MARRIAGE MARKET AT BABYLON
After a painting by Edwin Long.
From several of these engraved tablets it appears, that a woman received the same pay for the same work when she took a man’s place.
To Herodotus, the so-called “Father of History,” we are indebted for some highly interesting notes about the “marriage market of ancient Babylon.” Its site, uncovered in 1913 by the German Oriental Society, was in close neighborhood of the palaces of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar and occupied a rectangle of 100 by 150 feet. Open to the air on all four sides, it was most probably shielded from the sun by rich awnings devised to shelter the daughters of Babylon and bring out their charms. The marble block upon which they stood while being bid for was in the center of the spectators and richly carved with cherubs, who worshiped and protected the “Tree of Life.” Several inscriptions leave no doubt, that this was the actual market of which Herodotus gave the following description: “Once a year the maidens of age to marry in Babylon were collected at the market, while the men stood around them in a circle. Then a herald called up the damsels one by one and offered them for sale. He began with the most beautiful. When she was sold for no small sum he offered for sale the one who came next to her in beauty. All of them were to be sold as wives. The richest of the Babylonians who wished to wed bid against each other for the loveliest maidens, while the humbler wife seekers, who were indifferent about beauty, took the more homely damsels with marriage-portions. For the custom was that when the herald had gone through the whole number of the fair ones he should then call up the ugliest—a cripple if there chanced to be one—and offer her to the men, asking who would agree to take her with the smallest marriage-portion. And the man who offered to take the smallest sum had her assigned to him. The marriage-portions were furnished by the money paid for the beautiful girls, and thus the fairer maidens portioned out the uglier. No one was allowed to give his daughter to the man of his choice, nor might any one carry away the damsel he had purchased without finding bail really and truly to make her his wife. If, however, it was found that they did not agree the money might be paid back. All who liked might come, even from distant villages, and bid for the women.”
Herodotus as well as the Roman Curtius Rufus have written also about the so-called “hierarchical or sacred prostitution,” as it was connected with the service of Mylitta or Belit, the Babylonian goddess of the producing agencies.[[1]] Her temple was surrounded by a grove, which, like the temple, became the scene of most voluptuous orgies, about which Jeremiah too has given indications in his letter directed to Baruch. (Baruch VI. 42, 43.)