Middle Assyrian Laws

Historical source page 36

An Assyrian Laiv Code 35 When the text again becomes legible (after two entirely effaced lines), it reads as follows: she need [not] be veiled. 26 In the dayfime when on the highway 27 she' goes about, she is to veil herself. The captive woman, 28 who without the mistress [of the house] 29 goes about on the highway, is to be veiled. The hierodule 30 who is married 31 to a man is to 26 Read \la-a up-ta]-as-sa-[an], as in lines 57 and 65 of col. 5, from pcsHnu, which, in the meaning of 'conceal', occurs in the Babylonian text of the Behistun Inscription, line 102 (tapis§inu, 'thou coverest up'; see Muss- Arnolt, Assyrian Dictionary, p. 815b). The frequent occurrence of this stem in our law and in various forms (tu-up-ta-as-sa-an, pa-as-$u-un-ta, i-pa- as-sa, u-pa-as-sa-an, etc.) leaves no doubt as to the meaning 'to veil'. We are perhaps to supply ['when in the house,] she need [not] be veiled'. 27 i-na ri-be-ti, equivalent to our 'in public'. What class of women are here referred to who are to be veiled in the daytime on the highway, but otherwise not, can unfortunately not be determined, because of the break in the tablet — perhaps the widow, for whom, as we have seen, there was a special legislation, e. g. §§ 33-34. 28 e-si-4r-tu, i. e., the woman captured in war for whom, it will be recalled, special provision is also made in the Deuteronomic Code, Dt. 21. 10-14. According to our Assyrian Code, a man may recognize the captive woman as his wife (§ 40), just as according to Deuteronomy he is urged to legiti- matize a captive woman as his wife; and though free to dismiss her, if he no longer cares for her, he cannot sell her. The position of the esirtu, not actually married to the master of the house, would correspond to the modern 'mis- tress'. She would be required to go veiled in public, to mark her as the property of a man. 29 Read belli blti, as in § 23. 30 ka-di-il-tu = kadiitu, 'the sacred one', the well-known name for a class of temple prostitutes or hierodules. According to our Code, the kadiitu could either be married or unmarried. The Hammurabi Code, on the other hand (§ 181), assumes that Nu-Gig ( = kadiilu, Brunnow No. 3017), like the Nu- Mas (=zermaUtu, see Meissner, OLZ 8, p. 358), as a rule remains unmarried, for it stipulates that these two classes of votaries receive their 'dowry' from their father just the same. See examples of a kadiitu holding property in her own name in Schorr, Altbabylonische Rechtsurkunden, Nrr. 182 and 280. If the translation of i-na ir-ii-ti-id, 'at her betrothal', in No. 211. 6, is correct, she could also marry; and this is confirmed by the statement in a school text furnishing extracts from a Sumerian Code of Laws (VR 25. lOc-d), which takes up the case of a man marrying a kadiitu, despite her status. The kadiitu appears to act frequently as a wet-nurse, e. g., Schorr, Nos. 78 and 241, where 'hierodules' appear as witnesses in a case involving the fee to be given to a wet-nurse. From this, we may also conclude that the kadiitu could marry or could become the mistress of the priest, as intimated by Herodotus, 1. 181. 'The priestess of Marduk', likewise mentioned in the