Taking care of a widowed mother: legal and social aspects based on a court case in sixth century Babylon

Boivin, Odette

Abstract

This paper presents an edition and analysis of Tablet VAT 13254, the record of a court deci- sion dealing with a family dispute that unfolded in sixth century BCE Babylon between grand-children of one Nabû-aḫḫē-iddin of the Šangû-Dilbat family and his wife Aḫātu. The text provides insights into how Babylonians understood and perceived the duty of familial support for a widowed mother. The court case pertains to bequests within the family. Written, legal evidence is presented, but the arguments deployed show plainly that the care of the widowed mother by her daughters was also of tremendous relevance in the case. While the text confirms in many aspects what is known about these matters from other sources—both in philological and social-historical terms—, the arguments laid out in it are particularly ex- plicit, almost verbose, and offer thus a privileged glimpse into how social norms in the matter of care were understood and how they were negotiated alongside formal legal principles. These arguments also constitute an interesting example of contrasting strategies deployed in a Babylonian court.