488
Green Bag.
sired to set up some kind of a tavern or drinking shop; she rented a house, hired a large quantity of furniture, including three beds, ten chairs, three dishes and other kitchen utensils; borrowing 122 shekels of silver (upon which she agreed to pay interest) from her master, and spent it in buying fifty casks of beer and other things. In the reign of Cyrus we hear that a lady mortgaged her field just outside the gate of Zamama at Babylon to a slave; still wanting money, she proposed that if the mortgagee would make her a present of ten shekels she would hand over to him her title deeds; this was done, and the slave took possession of the field. The dowry which a woman generally brought with her on entering her husband's house made her independent, protected her from any tyranny on his part, and from any divorce on insufficient or unreasonable grounds. The dowry was her own abso lutely, and she could will it as she liked, in case of a divorce she could take it back with her to her father's house or use it in setting up an establishment of her own. It was usually paid by the father of the bride, but it he were dead or if the mother was divorced and living on her own property, the mother took the father's place and provided the dower for the daughter. If both parents were dead, it would seem as if the brothers had to furnish it. It was not always money; sometimes it was composed of slaves, furni ture or cattle. Naturally it was the bridegroom's duty and interest to see that the dowry was duly paid; if it was not handed over at the time of the nuptials he generally took security for its payment. The husband enjoyed the usufruct of it during the time of the union; often it v/as used to start the young couple in house keeping and in business; perhaps more fre quently the careful wife employed it in her own business affairs, especially if she had
other property. Should the father die before the actual marriage, his heirs had to pay what he had contracted to give. From a deed dated when Cambyses was king we find that sometimes payments were slow, in this case the dower was unpaid nine years after the marriage. If the wife died childless, the dower re turned to her family. If her husband died and she married again, of course she took her dowry with her, and if she had children by both her husbands, those of the first took two-thirds of it on her death, the children of the second getting only one-third, according to some authorities; according to others the children took equally. The dowry could not be alienated without the consent of the wife's parents, if they were alive; at least when Nergal-sharezer was king and Nergal-ballidha and his wife Dhibta wished to sell a slave, part of the dowry, the lawyers consid ered the sale invalid without the consent of both Dhibta's father and mother. The wife was also able to hold and dispose of whatever came to her by inheritance, or gift; the gains she made in business, the pro ceeds of the sales of her property, and the interest upon the capital she lent all belonged to herself, and herself alone. No doubt the whole of the wife's privileges arose from the fact that the dower was given by the father to the bride, not by the hus band, nor to him; she was not purchased by the husband or his friends, nor was he paid for taking her to his home. The husband re ceived her and her estate with her; he re ceived a benefit conferred, and so had to ac cept the conditions offered him, and could not make any. However, there are traces of an older order of things among the Semitic element of the population, and here the mar riage portion was paid over by the husband. Sometimes the mother had to provide the dowry for her daughter; when she did, her consent to the marriage had to be obtained.
