The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-11-30
WOMEN LONG AGO.
PICTURES OF LIFE IN CHALpEAN AMI
EGYPTIAN TIMES.

C0rFiiHN tlWIos
Laws Favored the Sex In Those Days-Hish
Position Conceded the Mother, the Wife
and the wfdcw-women Dealt Much In
Glaves--Adopted Children.
which has resulted from the labors OF
the explorer and decipherer often raises
strange problems for the studsnt Of social
life In this ninstesnth century. The vast
amount Of literary material recording ev-
cry detail OF the social Iife Of Chaldea and
Egypt 5000 years ago enables US to con-
struct picture Of the life Of these days
more complete In Its acoorscy than we
can make Of that Of the mannsrs and GUS
toms Of our own snosstorA the ancient
Britcns. This wealth Of material 10 due.
says w. So Ohad Bosoawen In The Queen,
20 the fact that both Avypt and CAaldea
were lands In which the profession of the
imam of letters" was held In the highest
respect, and to hold any social position
man must be scribe. This love Of let
tsrs also produced an important change
In ordinary everyday iifa In land
where large numbers Of the people were
educated and ceuld read and write 10 soon
became q recognized axiom In law that
no transaction, however trivial, was legal
unless IL was accompanied by O written
and duly attested record. This being the
case, the number Of commercial and legal
documents which were written was sror.
nous, and IL Is not surprising that the
British museum should possess some thou
sands Of these documents, extending over
period from about B. G. $500 to within
q century Of the Christian era. These doc
uments, being essentially the chronicles
Of the people. naturally give us wonder
ful picture Of the life, manners and GUS
toms Of those remote agcA
One Of the most interesting features
which they reveal Is the very high posi-
tion, both social and icgul, which was as.
signed 10 women, especially 10 the mother,
the married woman and phe widow. We
have long been acquainted with the main
features OF women's rights In the times Of
the later Bsbyionian empire during the age
of the Jewish captivity, B. e. 6o6-65s,
and 10 was evident the rights accorded
them then were no new concessions, but
the result Of long established custom. 1t
Ia now shewn BY some tablets recently ac-
quircd by tho British museum that these
same rights were as fully established In
the twenty third century before our era
M they were in the days of Ncbuohsdnez-
Ear and his successors. These tablets oon.
tain the records of the trading and legal
transactions Of form which had branches
In Ur of the Chsldees, Sippara or Sephar.
vain, Larsa and ether cities In the land
of Nimrod when Abraham and his fathers
were still resident In Chaldea.
The first inscription ] select Is a small
clay tablet, which furnishes US with in
teresting details as to the rights Of two
classes of the female population-the fe-
male slave and tho wife. The inscription
reads ns follows:
"A female slave named Mutibasti,
whom Sipbilanr has presented TO his wife.
The sons Of einbilsnn have no right of TO
claiming. All the children whom Mutt
basti from this day shall bear are the
property of ssddassu (the wife). Zini-
ikbisa is also the daughter Of Saddassu."
Here we have an extremely interesting
transaction. The man presents female
slave to his wife and stipulates that In
case of his death she shall not be claimed
as part of the estate by his sons, but re-
main, together with hor daughter born be-
fore her transfer and any future children,
the property Of the wife. The name of the
wife is redolcnt of the poetry of the age.
for 1t means ''his beloved one," similar TO
the well known Egyptian name Of Merit
or Merit, "the beloved" This tablet In
dioates that certain rights were accorded
to the wife OH the death of her husband.
The laws Of property are very clearly
set forth. On the death of the husband
the property went to the wife, probably
a..
tate until the children came of age. The
adult children then could claim their por-
tions. that OF the elder brother or firstborn
son being twice as large as the others, the
widow also having q double share and a
payment equivalent to her dowry. The
division was usually settled by family
council" presided over by the widow and
the eldest son, but II an agreement could
not be arrived at the property was thrown
into the court Of chancery OF those days
namely, the treasury of the local temple
and division made by the priests, n por-
ton, as costs, no doubt being given TO the
treasury Of the GOD
Even In those remote days women were
extensively engaged In commercial life,
though, I am sorry to say, usually In the
slave trade There Is one document In
the series in which all parties, vender,
purchaser, chattel (femnle slave) and the
witnesses, are women, the only men being
the scribss who wrote tho deeds.
Wealthy women seem to have done
considerable business in leasing out slaves
for stated periods of hire and may quote
one example: "A slave named Mar-Sip-
par, whom Msrduk NAzir, from Munapir-
tn, his mother, has leased for one year.
The money for the year shall be 4 shekels
Of silver. For wages Ito the slave) one.
half shekel of silver ho shall pay"
In Babyionia, ss among the Hebrew
people, 10 was the great desire OF tho wife
to bear q male child, and the tablets be-
fore us show chat there was mnny a pray
er like that Of Hannah offered in the tenn
pies Of Chaldea 8, 900 years ago. To meet
the difficulty Of succession extensive re-
sort was made to tho custom Of adoption,
careful code of laws with regard to
which had been formulated at a very early
period. Adopted children were usually
infants OF tender age, rs, according to the
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