Babatha (also known as Babata) was a Jewish woman who lived in the town of Maḥoza (at the south-eastern tip of the Dead Sea in what is now Jordan) at the beginning of the second century CE. In 1960, archaeologist Yigael Yadin discovered a leather pouch containing her personal documents in what came to be known as the Cave of Letters, near the Dead Sea. The documents found include such legal contracts concerning marriage (ketubba), property transfers, and guardianship. These documents, ranging from CE 96 to 134, depict a vivid picture of life for an upper-middle class Jewish woman during that time. They also provide an example of the Roman bureaucracy and legal system under which she lived.
Life
Babatha was born in approximately 104 CE, probably in Mahoza. At the time, the village was predominantly Nabatean but had a sizable Jewish community. Her father was from Ein Gedi and came to Mahoza roughly around the time of her birth and bought property there. The earliest document that mentions her is the deed gift that he left to her mother, Miriam, daughter of Menachem.[1] Most likely an only child or the eldest daughter, she inherited her father's property in Mahoza, several date palm orchards, upon her parents’ deaths. By 124 CE, she was already a mother and widow. Her first husband Jesus left her a young son of the same name. She was remarried by 125 CE to Judah, son of Eleazar Ketushyon, the owner of three date palm orchards in Ein Gedi, who had another wife, Miriam, daughter of Beianus, and a teenage daughter, Shelmaziyyon.[2][1] It is uncertain whether Babatha lived in the same home as the first wife or if Judah traveled between two separate households, as polygamy was common and mandated by Law in the Jewish community.[3][1]
The documents concerning this marriage offer insight to her status in the relationship. In their marriage contract, Judah's debts become part of her liability, indicating a financial equality. Judah accompanied Babatha to Rabba to declare her property in Mahoza to the Roman governor of Arabia during a Roman census, and served as her legal guardian in the process. In 128 CE, a legal document shows that Judah took a loan without interest from Babatha, showing that she had control of her own money despite the union. The loan was apparently to cover the gift Judah gave his daughter on the occasion of her wedding. Upon Judah's death in 130 CE, she seized his estates in Ein Gedi as a guarantee against his debts which she had covered as stated in the marriage contract, as the debts had apparently not been paid by his family. In 131 CE, she was embroiled in a legal battle with Judah's other wife over the possessions of their dead husband.[1][4]
Another document of importance concerns the guardianship of Babatha's son. In 125 CE, Babatha brought a suit against the legal guardians of her orphaned son, who had been appointed by a Roman court in Petra, citing their insufficient disbursement of funds. She argued that they had not invested his estate property and it was thus not producing the level of income he deserved and could expect. The document contains Babatha's petition that full guardianship responsibility of her son and his property be transferred to her control.[5][1]
The documents were written on her behalf by Eleazar, son of Eleazar, and Yochana, son of Makhouta. Babatha herself was illiterate as declared by Eleazar, who wrote that "she does not know letters."[6]
Death
The latest documents discovered in the pouch concern a summons to appear in an Ein Gedi court as Judah's first wife, Miriam, had brought a dispute against Babatha regarding their late husband's property. Therefore, it is assumed that Babatha was near Ein Gedi in 132 CE, placing her in the midst of the Bar-Kokhba revolt. It is likely that Babatha fled with Miriam and her family from the imminent violence of the revolt. They are thought to have taken refuge in the cave where the documents are found together with the family of Jonathan, son of Beianus, a Jewish general of the Bar-Kokhba revolt who was apparently the brother of her late husband Judah's other wife.[1] Because the documents were never retrieved and because twenty skeletal remains were found nearby, historians have suggested that Babatha perished while taking refuge in the cave.[7]
Notes
Bibliography
- Chiusi, Tiziana J. (2005). "Babatha vs. The Guardians of Her Son: A Struggle for Guardianship – Legal and Practical Aspects of P. Yadin 12-15, 27". In Ranon Katzoff and David Schaps (ed.). Law in the Documents of the Judean Desert. Leiden: Brill Academic.
- Goodman, Martin David (1996). "Babatha". In Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth (ed.). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Third ed.).
- Freund, Richard A. (2004). "A Tale of Two Caves: Babatha and Her-story". Secrets of the Cave of Letters: Rediscovering a Dead Sea Mystery. Humanity Books. ISBN 978-1-59102-205-3. book cite
- Esler, Philip F. (2017). Babatha’s Orchard: The Yadin Papyri and an Ancient Jewish Family Tale Retold. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Further reading
- Friedman, Mordechai A. (1996). "Babatha's "Ketubba": Some Preliminary Observations". Israel Exploration Journal. 46 (1/2): 55–76. JSTOR 27926417.
- Broshi, Magen (1992). "Agriculture and Economy in Roman Palestine: Seven Notes on the Babatha Archive". Israel Exploration Journal. 42 (3/4): 230–240. JSTOR 27926273.
External links
- Video Lecture on Babatha by Henry Abramson (2014)
- Lecture, Henry Abramson: Babatha (First Person Accounts in Jewish History) on YouTube, Jan 2020.
- Babatha's Life and Times
- Bibliography on Babatha
- Transcriptions of some of Babatha's papyri Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri