The Status of the Handmaiden Tamet: A New Interpretation of Kraeling 2 (TAD B3.3)

Among the best known Aramaic documents from Elephantine are the so-called “marriage contracts” (TAD B2.6; 3.3,3.8; 6.1–4). Three of these are intact (TAD B2.6; 3.3), or virtually so (TAD B3.8), and are written by the scribe Nathan b. Ananiah (TAD B2.6; 3.3) and his son Mauziah (TAD B3.8) respectively. Mauziah wrote one of the fragmentary documents (TAD B6.4) and, on the basis of the handwriting, probably another one as well (TAD B6.1). Both are professional scribes with several other documents to their credit: Nathan — TAD B2.7; 3.1; Mauziah — TAD B2.9–10; B3.5. They were well-versed in legal terminology and so we must pay careful attention to their formulations, according appropriate significance to omissions or additions as among the various contracts. So, too, must we probe the legal realia underlying each document to see how these may account for unique formulations and revisions.