The advocate., 1894-12-05
WOMEN OF LONG AGO.
PICTURES OF LIFE IN CHALDEAN AND
EGYPTIAN TIMES.

Slaves--AdOpted Children.
The marvellous resurrection Of the past
which has resulted from the labors Of
the explorer and decipherer often raises
strange problems for the student of social
life in this nineteenth century. The vast
amount Of literary material recording eV-
cry detail of the social life Of Chaldea and
Egypt 5000 years ago enables us to con-
struct picture Of the life Of those days
more complete in its accuracy than we
can make Of that of the manners and Gus
toms Of our own ancestors, the ancient
Britons. This wealth of material Is due,
says w. St. Chad BosCawen In The Queen,
= the fact that both Egypt and Chaldea
re lands in which the profession of the
man Of lettors" was held in the highest
respect, and to hold any social position
man must be a scribe. This love of let
ters also produced an important change
In ordinary everyday life. In a land
where large numbers of the people were
educated and could read and write it soon
became a recognized axiom In law that
no transaction, however trivial, was legal
unless it was accompanied by written
and duly attested record. This being the
case, the number Of commercial and legal
documents which were written was enor.
nous, and it 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
full picture of the life, manners and GUS
toms Of those remote ages.
One of the most interesting features
which they reveal is the very high posi-
tion, both social and legal, which was as
signed to women, especially to the mother,
the married woman and the widow. We
have long been acquainted with the main
features of womens rights in the times Of
the later Babylonian empire during the age
Of the Jewish captivity, B. q. 606-5SS,
and 1t was evident the rights accorded
them then were no new concessions, but
the result of long established custom. It
Is now shown by some tablets recently ac-
quired by the British museum that these
same rights were as fully established in
the twenty-third century before our era
as they were in the days Of Nebuchadnez-
Zar and his SUCCESSORS. These tablets con-
tain the records of the trading and legal
transactions of form which had branches
n Ur of the Chaldees, Sippara or Sephar-
Vain, Larsa and other cities in the land
Of Nimrod when Abraham and his fathers
were still resident in Chaldea.
The first inscription I 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 the wife. The inscription
reads as follows:
"A female slave named Mutibasti,
whom Sinbilanu has presented to his wife.
The sons Of Sinbilanu have no right Of re-
claiming. All the children whom Mutt
basti from this day shall bear are the
property of Saddassu (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 her daughter born be-
fore her transfer and any future children,
the property Of the wife. The name Of the
wife is redolent of the poetry Of the age.
for It means This beloved one," similar to
the well known Egyptian name Of Merit
or Merit, 1.-THE beloved" This tablet in
q Gates that certain rights were accorded
t. 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
the chief wife, who administered the es-
tate until the children came Of age. The
adult children then could claim their por-
tions. that of the elder brother or flrstborn