Scholar

Western Civilization
“Scholar”
Objective
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YOU are a team of scholars trying to figure out as much as you can about the lives and concerns of
women in the Ancient Near East.
All you have are bits of information written at the time.
What can these glimpses-into-the-past tell you?
What can you infer from them about what life in the Ancient Near East
In your teams, use the information from the following data sheets to write down your
inferences.
After working, each team will share their results/findings with the class.
Procedure
1) Read, Interpret, Discuss
After reading your data, discuss (in your own words) what each piece of information means, or
implies, to your team members.
2) Organize
Categorize the information by identifying sources revealing insight into the following areas:
(Complete this by number—with bulleted lists)
1. Areas where women could exercise some authority - were given status, rights, or were
honored.
2. Areas where women had little power.
3. The treatment and conditions of service of slave women.
4. The types of work that women engaged in - household labor or work outside the home.
5. Ways in which women expressed themselves in public.
6. Things women owned or considered important.
7. Expectations placed upon married women.
8. Things women complained about - that worried or bothered them.
9. Situations that a woman might find herself in today.
3) Summarize
Compose a summary of your findings:
I75-100 word depth.
IState in logical sequence.
IProvide quotes from the sources, which support your interpretations.
IPresent & Defend as a team.
Mr. Noble
1
Western Civilization
“Scholar”
Data
1)
"My Mouth Makes Me Comparable to Men"
- Sumerian Proverb
(2)
"The desert canteen is a man's life,
The shoe is a man's eye,
The wife is a man's future,
The son is a man's refuge,
The daughter is a man's salvation,
The daughter-in-law is a man's devil."
- Sumerian proverb, ca. 2000 B.C.
(3)
"Since my wife is at the outdoor shrine, and since my mother is at the river, I shall die of hunger."
- Sumer, 2000 B.C.
(4)
"A house without an owner is like a woman without a husband."
- Proverb
(5)
"The one who does not support a wife, who does not support a son, is a dishonest person who does not support himself." Akkadian proverb
6)
"My husband is my honor"
- Saying
(7)
"Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and reject not your mother's teaching."
- Biblical Proverb
(8)
"Do not honor a slave girl in your house;
She should not rule your bedroom like a wife.
Do not give yourself over to slave girls.
Let this be said among your people:
'The household which a slave girl rules, she disrupts.'"
- Akkadian Wisdom Literature
Mr. Noble
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Western Civilization
“Scholar”
(9)
"[Be on your guard against any palace woman]...Do not go too near her, do not ever say a word to her. Nor shall your
manservant, nor your maid go too near her. Beware of her. Whenever a palace woman appears, jump as far as possible out
of her way, leave the path free for her."
- Advice from Hittite King Shuppiluliuma to his new brother-in-law
(10)
"Since for the king, for the lord, I bathed,
Since with paste my sides were adorned,
Since with balsam my mouth was coated,
Since with kohl my eyes were painted."
- Chant from the third dynasty of Ur
(11)
"Come Sleep, come Sleep,
Come to my son...
Put to sleep his restless eyes,
Put your hand on his kohl-painted eyes,
And as for his babbling tongue,
Let not the babbling hold back his sleep...
I will make sweet for you the little cheese,
Those little cheeses that are the healer of man...
Ua! Aua!
In my song of joy - he will grow stout,
Like the irina-trees he will grow stout of root,
Like the sakir-plant he will grow broad of crown....
In my song of joy - I will give him a wife
I will give him a son...
The son will lie in his outstretched arms
The wife will be happy with him,
The son will grow big on his wet knee.
You are in pain,
I am troubled..."
- Chant for a sick son, perhaps uttered by
Shulgi-simti, queen of King Shulgi, Third Dynasty of Ur
(12)
"I am Ishtar of Arbela, Oh Esasrhaddon, king of Assyria. In the cities Ashur, Nineveh, Calah, Arbela, I shall grant you many
days, endless years. I am the great midwife who helped at your birth, the one who gave you suck, who has established your
rule under the wide heavens for many days, endless years. From a golden chamber in the heavens I will watch...Fret not, O
king! Because I have spoken to you (in an oracle), I will not abandon you. I shall not let you come to shame. I will help you
cross the river safely...With my own hands, your foes I shall annihilate."
- Oracle given the king by the woman Ishtar-beldayani,
spoken as though they were the words of the Goddess Ishtar
Akkadia
Mr. Noble
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Western Civilization
“Scholar”
13)
Great Death Pit - Sumar. Ur, Early dynastic period, around 2500 B.C.
The Sumerians believed their kings and queens were divine, and that ordinary humans were
created for the service of the gods. At the site of the ancient city-state of Ur, archeologists uncovered sixteen royal graves.
That of Queen Shub-ad shows her buried with a fancy headdress of gold, lapis lazuli, and carnelian. She carries an
exquisite gold cup in her hand. Buried with her were six men and sixty-eight richly adorned women - mostly ladies in
waiting wearing huge gold earrings, necklaces of precious stones. gold and silver hair ribbons. Their sleeves, cuffs and
bottom hem of their coats were enriched with beads or rings in shell or metal. Slaves and musicians also gave their lives in
order to attend to their divine queen after her death.
14)
Temple of the Goddess Bau: Lagash, ca, 2350 B.C.
Administration of this temple was in the hands of Queen Shagshag. She exercised legal and economic authority over the
whole domain of temple, employing about 1000 and 1200 persons year round. She also was the chief priestess. Tablets
show that her domestic staff consisted of:
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150 slave women: spinners, woolworkers, brewers, millers, and kitchen workers.
One female singer, several musicians.
6 women who ground grain for feeding pigs.
15 cooks, and 27 other slaves doing menial work.
Brewery: 40 men and 6 females.
One wet nurse, one nursemaid.
Personal servants for her children and herself.
One hairdresser.
15)
Laws in the Hammurabi Code
"If a [woman wine-seller] does not accept [grain] according to gross weight in payment of drink, but takes money,
and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water." (#108).
(This refers to a practice known as a trial by ordeal. It was believed that the Euphrates River would act as judge of people
accused of various crimes. If, when thrown into the river, the accused person floated, she or he was considered innocent.
But if they sank, the river had found them guilty.)
"If conspirators meet in the house of a woman wine-seller, and these conspirators are not captured and delivered to
the court, the wine-seller shall be put to death."
Mr. Noble
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Western Civilization
“Scholar”
15) cont…
Laws in the Hammurabi Code cont…
"If a 'sister of a god' [nun] open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this woman be burned to death."
"If a married lady who is dwelling in a man's house sets her face to go out of doors and persists in behaving herself
foolishly wasting her house and belittling her husband, they shall convict her and, if her husband then states that he
will divorce her, he may divorce her; nothing shall be given to her as her divorce-money on her journey." (Law #141.)
"If a married lady is caught lying with another man, they shall bind them and cast them into the water. If her
husband wishes to let his wife live, then the king shall let his servant live." (#129)"
"If the husband of a married lady has accused her but she is not caught lying with another man, she shall take an
oath by the life of a god and return to her house." (#131)
"If a man wishes to divorce his first wife who has not borne him sons, he shall give her the amount of her purchase
money and the dowry which she brought from her father's house, and let her go." (#138)
"If a woman quarrel with her husband, and says: "You are not congenial to me," the reasons for her prejudice must be
presented. If she is guiltless, and there is no fault on her part, but he leaves and neglects her, then no guilt attaches
to this woman, she shall take her dowry and go back to her father's house." (#142)
16)
Letter from Assyrian businesswoman to her merchant husband. ca. 1900 B.C.
"One heavy cloth to Ashur-Malik I gave previously for his caravan trip. But the silver from it he has not yet brought me.
....When you send the purse, include some wool. Wool in the city is costly."
17)
Erishti-Aya: Letters to King Zimri-Lim of the city-state of Mari, Akkadian Dynasty 1750 B.C.
Zimri-Lim was king of Mari in northern Mesopotamia during the time of Hammurabi. Elite women in Mari held relatively
equal status with men. They stood in for the king when he was absent, and ruled in city-states that had been conquered.
Zimri-Lim had eight daughters. Two he had become priestesses dedicated to certain gods. They became cloistered, like
nuns. One, Erishti-Aya, wrote letters home complaining of her life.
"Now the daughters of your house...are receiving their rations of grain, clothing, and good beer.
But even though I alone am the woman who prays for you, I am not provisioned...
Last year you sent me two female slaves and one of those slaves had to go and die!
Now you have brought me two more female slaves and of these one slave had to go and die!"
To her mother Erishti-Aya wrote:
"I am a king's daughter! You are a king's wife! Even disregarding the tablets with which your husband and you made me
entered the cloister, they (the temple officials) treat well soldiers taken as booty. You, then treat me well!"...."My rations of
grain and clothing, with which my father keeps me alive, they once gave me, so let them give me them no lest I starve."
Mr. Noble
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