Usually, I use this blog to post
items that either inspire or inform.
However, I recently came across this Egyptian marriage contract from 200
B.C.E. and knew I had to post it as it blew me away!
There is so much talk about the
“institution” of marriage that we sometimes forget that the “institution” has
changed over time, and from culture to culture.
This particular contract was
discovered in Luxor – Egypt, not Vegas!
Historians think that the idea of a trial marriage may have been rooted
in the importance Egyptians placed on having children and so the need of a
wife’s early pregnancy.
From the vantage of 2015 this
contract is an eye-opener!
I take thee, Taminis, daughter of Pamonthis, into my house to be my lawful
wife for the term of five months. Accordingly I deposit for you in the Temple
of Hathor the sum of four silver stater (coins), which will be forfeited to you
if I dismiss you before the conclusion of the five months, and besides this my
banker shall do something for you. But if you leave me on your own account
before the end of the five months, the above sum which I have deposited shall
be refunded to me.
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