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There are several historical documentation and law codices found in archaeology to describe the lives of Women in Ancient Mesopotamia and the several cultural practices found among them. Relevant to my research is the topic of marriage rituals within Mesopotamia described in the article by Stol. It was found that the father of a young groom would be responsible for paying a bride price to the father of the woman to be married. Sumerians, for example, were found to pay the brideprice in forms of food because it was of the items most necessary for a banquet during the reception of the wedding. In Old Babylon period however, it was most common that the bride price be paid in silver currency and could be paid in installments from the time of engagement all the way until the time the wife had a first born child. From the moment the groom paid the brideprice in Mesopotamia, women received the status of wife and entered a period of engagement referred to as ïnchoate marriage with a male. Most marriage agreements were oral and there were specific rules in some cases of what the husband could and could not do. Here are some rules of this as evidence of the rights men had with having a wife:
 * __Bride price in Mesopotamia:__**
 * 1) The father of the bride and the groom come to an agreement and the couple is allowed to live in husband's home.
 * 2) The husband can have a second wife if no children are born.
 * 3) A man has a right to having a concubine.
 * 4) A man can demote a wife's status and promote his concubine.
 * 5) Eldest son receives a double share in the inheritance.

Quite interesting, is that the bride received a dowry which remained her property and was described thoroughly in the marriage contract. Laws explained what would happen if something went wrong in the contract, either these gifts could be lost, recompensated, with a penalty included, or other. If a man married a poor girl from a fatherless family he promised to cover her with cloth and hat, a dowry the groom would provide himself. Value was attached to being in an untouched state or a virgin at the moment of the wedding. It is the wife who moves into the husband's house and everybody hopes that their union will be fruitful.

In Mesopotamia, the marriage ceremony lasted six or seven days, A girl was covered by her father with a veil which was taken off by her husband. The title for bride or "kallutum'', is a status a woman holds until her first child is born and foreign princesses married to kings held this as a permanent title. Some archaeologists have theorized that the groom has a number of friends who accompanied them in their wedding. These best-men, had a duty to supervise the physical union of the couple and protect the virginity of the bride against potential demons with their swords. Mesopotamian culture feared very much the interference of demons in their lives. First time pregnant women were found to have worn amulets, recited spells, and had rituals to ward of the danger female demons could pose to future mothers.
 * __Becoming a married woman:__**

A woman who has bore her husband and his family a child, has become a respected person and in the Laws of Esnunna show that these woman can not be divorced easily. Children are breast fed for two or three years. It was common to hire a midwife, but the Laws of Hammurabi forbid her to take a second baby at the same time. In Assyria and Western Mesopotamia, marriage contracts demonstrate how a second wife was taken only after three more years of childlessness. A second reason for taking a second wife is due to chronic disease or disability of the first wife. However, there were laws that secured the rights of the first wife so she would be protected.

Children were expected to care for their parents when they were old and for that reason it was so critical that marriages produce children in Mesopotamian culture. When a child was not born there were two choices a couple could resort to: the adoption of an adult person (a fatherless or poor girl, these women were usually married off to slave men) or the husband taking a second wife. In the latter option, several contracts establish the position of the newcomer or the second wife; some stated that to the husband the second woman was considered a wife, but to the first wife she was a slave girl. References are made throughout the law of a married "nun" or "naditum", as the wife who could not produce children. In ancient tradition, it was the naditum who would bring her sister to her home as a second wife, and she was expected to give birth to the children. Evidence of this can be seen in the legend of Gilgamesh, where he offered his two sisters to the demon Huwawa for marriage.
 * __Women's Responsibility in Having Children__**

Old Babylonian contracts frequently referenced different cases and scenarios of divorce and for a woman the cost of asking for a divorce could have been deadly. If a man desired a divorce from his wife, he would have to pay a penalty of twenty or thirty shekels of silver. If the woman were to explicitly say, "'you are not my husband) it was written in the contract that her limbs will be tied up and she would be thrown in the river. The decision to throw her in the river was usually final when it was proven that she was guilty of a grave misdemeanor. If a woman was caught during the act of adultery or with another man she will be murdered by an iron dagger. However, if the husband should take another wife he should pay six minas of silver. It is documented that women in Assyria and the West had an easier time if they wanted a divorce. There existed contracts in Aramaic for women who lived in Western Mesopotamia, which showed them to be of equal status to men. Stol wrote that in principle a married woman leaving her husband was not allowed, but depending on how powerful one's parents were could dictate favorable results for their daughters throughout history.
 * __Divorce:__**

Women in Mesopotamia M. Stol Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient Vol. 38, No. 2, Women's History (1995), pp. 123-144 (article consists of 22 pages) Published by: BRILL Stable URL: []
 * __Article Citation:__**