B Marriage agreement from the “Cave of Letters”
In addition to the fifth-century ketubah from Egypt, mentioned above, nine marriage contracts between Jews are known from the provinces of Judaea and Arabia, all dating to the late first or early second centuries.
Five of these are in Greek, and four are in Aramaic.124 The Greek contracts show many resemblances to marriage contracts from Roman Egypt, and show a fusion of Greek and Jewish elements (whereas the Aramaic documents are traditional Jewish ketubat). The families in these Greek documents are not secular, “hellenized” Jews, but have adapted their contracts to the norms of the multicultural society in which they live [see Cotton 1994]. It is probable also that they recorded their marriages in Greek so that the documents would be valid in Roman provincial courts.125Two of the Jewish marriage contracts in Greek [P.Yadin 18 and 37] and one of the Aramaic ketubat [P.Yadin 10] are from the cache of documents now known as the “Babatha archive.” The “Babatha archive” comprises the personal papers of a Jewish woman, Babatha, who lived in the village of Maoza in the new Roman province of Arabia (modern Jordan), which until 106 C.E. had been the kingdom of Nabatea. The papers were found in a cave along the Dead Sea now known as the “Cave of Letters,” where they had evidently been hidden in 132 by local residents caught up in the Bar-Kokhba revolt led by the Jewish leader Shim'on Bar Kosiba (several letters written by Bar Kosiba were found in the same cave, though not among Babatha's papers). Babatha never returned to reclaim her documents, and scholars have concluded that she died in the revolt.126
In Babatha's archive were thirty-five documents in three languages, Greek, Aramaic, and Nabatean, ranging in date from 93 (thirteen years before Nabatea became a Roman province under the emperor Trajan) to 132, the year the Bar-Kokhba revolt began.
They shed valuable light on the life and legal affairs of a provincial woman in the early second century [see Chapter 5, Part II.B.2 for more on the Babatha archive].Many of the papyri in the Babatha archive, including the marriage contract below, were what are called “double documents.” The text would be written twice on the same papyrus, with one copy written above the other. The upper (inner) portion of the papyrus, with the first copy, was rolled up and fastened with string to protect the text and prevent tampering with it. The second copy, on the lower (outer) portion, would be accessible, and its veracity could be checked, if necessary, by comparison with the upper text [see Lewis 1989, 6—10]. “Double documents” are rare in Egypt (but cf. the Latin marriage contract, Part A.3 above), but evidently more common further east, as they are found also at Dura Europos (see below) and among the recently published texts from the Middle Euphrates [Bowersock 1991, 337-8].
The marriage agreement below, written in Greek, was made between the groom, Judah also called Cimber, and the bride's father, Judah son of Eleazar (also called Khthousion), who was Babatha's second husband.127 The bride, Shelamzion, is thus Babatha's stepdaughter, and presumably that is why her marriage document was found among Babatha's papers. None of the parties are Roman citizens; the groom bears a Roman name, Cimber, but that is not an indication of Roman citizen status.128 All are Jews living either in the province of Arabia (where the marriage took place, at Maoza) or the neighboring province of Judaea (where Ein- gedi, the hometown of both parties, was located). This contract has engendered much scholarly debate since its publication in 1987, centering around the question of how “Jewish” a document it actually is.
Its original editor has described it as a “remarkable blend of Roman, Greek, and Jewish elements” [Katzoff, in Lewis, Katzoff and Greenfield 1987, 236], but his identification of “Jewish” elements in it have been challenged.129 The document shares a number of features with marriage contracts from Roman Egypt, some of which are noted below. It cannot be described as a ketubah, unlike the Aramaic ketubat found in the Judaean desert (above). This does not mean that the participants were not practicing Jews, or that they did not know about or use the Jewish type of marriage agreement; indeed, not many years before Judah son of Khthousion, father of the bride, had given his second wife Babatha a traditional ketubah written in Aramaic which was also found in the Cave of Letters.130Shelamzion brings jewelry and clothing as prosphora, which is given a monetary value of 200 denarii; her new husband adds another 300 denarii to make up a dowry (here called proix) of 500 denarii total. This addition to the dowry by the husband may be a “Jewish” feature of the marriage document, or may be an early appearance of the husband's pre-nuptial gift (called hedna in documents from Egypt) which becomes a regular part of marriage agreements in the fourth century.131 In any case, the total dowry comes to a significant amount, indicating that both families were quite well-off [Lewis 1989, 77].
P.Yadin 18 (outer text only), 5 April, 128
In the consulship of Publius Metilius Nepo for the second time and of Marcus Annius Libo, [on the nones of April], on the fifteenth of the month Xandikos [of the twenty-third year] according to the numbering of the new province of Arabia, in Maoza around Zoara. [Judah] son of Eleazar also called Khthousion, gave Shelamzion, his own daughter, a virgin, to Judah called Cimber, son of Ananias son of Somalas, both from the village of Ein-gedi of Judaea, residing here, for Shelamzion to be wedded wife to Judah Cimber for the partnership of marriage according to the laws.
She brings to him for the purpose of wedding-gift (prosphora) female finery in silver and gold and clothing valued by mutual agreement, as they both say, to be worth 200 denarii of silver. The groom, Judah called Cimber, acknowledged that he has taken this assessment from her by hand, immediately from Judah her father, and that he owes (it) to the same Shelamzion, his wife, together with another 300 denarii which he acknowledged that he gave to her in addition to all the items of her wedding-gift written above, for the purpose of her dowry (proix) in accordance with the purpose of support and clothing for both her and (their) future children by the Hellenic custom,132 on the guarantee of the same Judah Cimber and at his risk and (on the security) of all the possessions which he has in his same homeland and here and of all those which he will possess anywhere lawfully. (And he acknowledged) that he will make the payment due in whatever way Shelamzion, his wife, chooses, or whoever is acting through [her] or on her behalf chooses. Judah, called Cimber, will exchange for [his] wife Shelamzion this contract in guaranteed silver as is appropriate, whenever she asks him, from his own money with no dispute.133 But if he doesn’t, he will pay to her double all the denarii written above, there being to her lawfully the right to exact payment [from] her husband Judah Cimber and from his possessions, in whatever way Shelamzion, or whoever is acting through her or on her behalf, chooses that the payment due be made.134The question was asked in good faith and it was acknowledged in reply that these things were thus done well.135
[There follow, in Aramaic, the signatures of Judah son of Eleazar Khthousion and Judah Cimber. Cimber guarantees Shelamzion’s dowry of 500 silver denarii.]
I, Theenas son of Simon, the scribe,136 wrote this.
[The signatures of Judah son of Eleazar and Judah Cimber, and of five witnesses, are written on the back of the document in Aramaic.]