The Babatha Archive

Abstract

by Andrea Ogier

(Andrea Ogier is a third-year student at the College of William and Mary who is spending a semester abroad at the University of St. Andrews.--JRD)

Babatha's Archive is an important group of documents deposited in the Cave of the Letters at the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt. The Archive contains various legal contracts and deeds concerning the legal affairs of a Jewish woman, Babatha, daughter of Simeon. Babatha's documents reveal much about the life of a woman in second century Judea: her documents reveal issues concerning marriage, divorce, and women's legal issues in the Roman Court system. The two main texts I am concerned with are P. Yadin 10 and P. Yadin 18. In my paper I discuss various debates argued by modern scholars around these issues involving: the status of Babatha's stepdaughter Shelamzion at her marriage (whether or not she could have been a minor), and whether or not the _ketubba_ found in the archive was for Babatha's first or second marriage (since the groom's first name has decayed beyond the point of recognition). Also, I discuss Babatha's legal standing and that even though some perceive Babatha to have been a wealthy woman, she cannot represent herself in court. Conversely, the representative of the orphans who are Babatha's accusers is also a woman, contradicting Roman laws. This paper also aims to acquaint the reader with two methods to evaluate issues in the Babatha archive concerning women which differ from known Judaic and Roman laws, the "apologetic" and the "provocative" approaches (Tal Ilan).

(c) 2001
Reproduction beyond fair use only on permission of the author.