Babatha

Babatha (c. 104, † 132) was a woman of Jewish faith, the n at the beginning of the 2nd century BC in the seaport city Maoza lived at the southern end of the Dead Sea. The place is now in Jordan.

Discovery and significance

The existence of Babatha known for her personal documents, in 1960 the archaeologist Yigael Yadin found in studies of the cave of the letters in a leather bag. In the cave on the western shore of the Dead Sea near the oasis of Ein Gedi other finds were still made ​​of ancient times, such as documents of the " Jewish " Bar Kochba rebels. In the documents of the Babatha is especially contracts for marriages, transfers of assets and guardianships. These documents from the years 96-134 AD offer a vivid picture of the life of a woman from the upper middle class in the Roman province of Judea at the turn of the 1st to 2nd century. A special legal-historical importance comes to them also because they provide insights into the impact of Roman law on the everyday activities of the people of that time.

Life-history

Babatha was born in about 104, probably the only child or the eldest daughter, so that she could inherit her father's date plantations. 124 she was already widowed and had a young son named Jesus. A year later, she married again, a certain Judah. This was the owner of three date plantations in En Gedi and had a daughter from a marriage with another woman. Since polygamy was permitted under the law then, it is not clear whether Babatha lived together with her ​​husband and his other wife or if Judah had two households, between which he emigrated.

Babatha archive

The documents on their second marriage offer insight into her status within that relationship. For example, the fact that it has been kept in their marriage contract that Judah's debt becomes part of their obligations to the fact that she was his equal financially. A legal document from 128 AD shows that Judah with her an interest-free loan, took a clear proof of their control over their own assets. Until his death in 130 she took his possessions in En Gedi as a pledge for his debt, which she had as agreed in the marriage contract, covered.

Another document relates to the guardianship of her son. So they drew 125 AD against the supervisor of her son with the accusation in court that they had their funds are not sufficiently paid. The document includes a petition here that the full responsibility should pass to them about her son and his property.

Death

The most recent document in the leather bag relates to a subpoena, according to En Gedi, where Judah's first wife, Miriam, had complained against it because of the property of the deceased common spouse. It is therefore presumed that Babatha was in the year 132 at En Gedi, where they would fall in the middle of the Bar Kochba revolt. It is therefore likely that they fled with Miriam and her family out of the battle zone. From the fact that the documents were still in the bag and in their environment skeletal remains have been found, historians concluded that Babatha probably lost his life while they sought refuge in the cave.