C Marriage contract from Dura Europos
Another part of the ancient Near East where documents of the Roman period have been found is Dura Europos, a Roman military outpost (now in Syria) on the Euphrates very near the frontier between the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire.
Extensive excavations have yielded over a hundred papyri, one wax tablet, and several dozen documents on parchment, a material often used in this part of the world, but rare further west (cf Chapter 1, Part V.C. on the recently published documents from the Middle Euphrates). Dura was a multi-cultural society where several different ethnic groups (Greeks, Jews, Persians and Romans) mingled and several different languages (Greek, Aramaic, Palmyrene, Iranian, Syriac, and Latin) were used. There was also considerable religious diversity: not only are there temples to eastern gods, but also a synagogue (well-known for its paintings) and even a Christian house-church [Millar 1993, 467-71].Dura was originally a Macedonian foundation and had been part of the Seleucid empire during the Hellenistic period. It then came under Parthian (Persian) control until the 160s, when the Romans took it. Roman domination lasted less than a century, however; Dura was destroyed by the Persians in the 250s and abandoned. Inscriptions from the first century C.E. indicate that the inhabitants practiced marriage between uncle and niece and even between half-siblings, evidently influenced by Persian custom.137 After Caracalla’s grant of Roman citizenship in 212, such marriage practices should have stopped, but probably did not; more than three centuries later, Justinian and Justin II both had to grant amnesties to inhabitants of the region who continued to live in incestuous unions [Corcoran 2000, 10-11].
The Dura documents include one marriage contract on papyrus, in Greek and dated 232 (using the Roman dating system by consuls).
The marriage did not actually take place at Dura, but at a place called Qatna, where the groom, who served in the Roman army, was stationed (by this time, soldiers could legally marry; see Chapter 3, Part I.C.4). The bride is a widow, and gives herself in marriage; there is no mention of a kyrios [cf. Chapter 1, Part III.C]. Her mother and brother are present; evidently her father is dead. Both bride and groom are Roman citizens and have the nomen Aurelius/a; probably they (or their parents) received citizenship under the Edict of Caracalla twenty years earlier.The bride’s dowry, consisting of clothing, jewelry, and housewares, is listed and valued, along with apparently an almost equivalent amount in silver. The groom is said to owe 175 denarii, to make a total dowry (proix) of 750 denarii of silver.138 This addition to the dowry on the groom’s part is similar to the arrangement in P.Yadin 18 [Part B], though there the groom contributed significantly more than the bride. The couple appears to have been “moderately affluent,” according to the document’s editors [Welles, Fink and Gilliam 1959, 156]. Provisions are made for return of the items contributed by Marcellina in the case of divorce, but the fragmentary nature of the text does not allow us to know the details.
Like the documents from the Cave of Letters, all the legal documents from Dura were “double documents,” with the text written twice on the same sheet. The copy of the text written above, called the “inner text,” was then sewn or otherwise sealed shut. The outer text, written below, also contained the signatures of participants and witnesses to the transaction, and would be open for easy access. The inner text of the marriage contract is almost entirely lost, but much remains of the outer text, though it, too, is very fragmentary.
The papyrus on which it was written was folded fourteen times after being sewn shut, and then doubled over. This would have made it into a very small packet, which was perhaps worn around the neck of one of the partners.139P.Dura 30 (outer text only), 1 October, 232
(first hand) In the consulship of Virius Lupus and Marius Maximus, on the Kalends of October, of the month Hyperberetaios at the first of the month, in Qatna in the winter quarters of the Twelfth Cohort of... Palestinii, Severiana Alexandriana.
Good Fortune.140
On the present day Aurelius Alexander, soldier of the cohort written above, of the century of Papius, and Aurelia Marcellina, daughter of Marcellinus, living in Qatna, there being present with her., her mother, and Agrippinus, her brother, have acknowledged and drawn up (a contract) for each other on the present day that Marcellina has given herself from widowhood for the partnership of marriage. to Alexander and that they will remain with each other for all [time]. bringing141. from her possessions. in clothing and goods, having been valued with suitable men as mediators,142 the items written below:
a new white mantle (pallium), valued at 1[2]5 denarii; another new white mantle, valued at fifty denarii; a new. tunic, valued at forty denarii; a new undyed Dalmatic cape, valued at thirty denarii; a [scarlet] Dalmatic cape and new purple hood, valued at seventy-five denarii; another new white Dalmatic cape, valued at fifty denarii; a new purple., valued at twenty- five denarii; silken garments with diagonal stripes, new, valued at fifty denarii; ceramic and [bronze] ware, valued at twenty-five denarii; earrings and finger-rings. valued at fifty denarii;. 565 denarii of silver brought by her,
which.
Alexander acknowledged that he has received and has. for himself among his possessions the items. and that he is content with the things coming to himself and [several words are missing]. to owe 175 denarii. dowry (proix) (to the value of) 750 denarii of silver. There is an agreement between them that if Alexander should wish to get rid of Marcellina. because of. [several words are missing] the things belonging. [several lines are missing] he will give back the. denarii which he received. [several words are missing]. it has been agreed between them, happened, if any. each.
(another hand) I, Faustinus Avianus, veteran, having been asked, wrote [on behalf of Aurelia] Marcellina daughter of Marcellinus, who is illiterate and who agrees with the things written above.
(another hand) I, [Aurelius] Alexander [agree with the things] written above... [the rest is too fragmentary to read].
[On the other side are the signatures of five witnesses.]