Amestris a relative away from Darius is stated a few times regarding the messages. She are married so you’re able to men named Craterus but is in the future abandoned of the your and San Francisco, CA in USA wives you can immediately following their separation and divorce try remarried to help you Dionysius, a region ruler. They put about three students and you may after her husbands’ passing during the 306 BC she acted because the regent. She reigned since the queen for a time but was eventually slain from the her sons. We do not has actually much information about the wedding ceremonies. The sole head membership try Alexander’s relationships at Susa towards the Iranian little princess Stateira an excellent child of the defeated king Darius III. As reported by the brand new Greek historians the marriage is carried out in Persian community. « The fresh new fiance registered the space and seated near the bridegroom. The guy grabbed their particular give and you may kissed all of them. Both ate regarding same loaf out-of money chopped from inside the two fold by the a sword and used some drink. Adopting the ceremony their husband got the bride-to-be home ».

Latest present in the Babylonia or other territories not as much as Achaemenid missing specific light to your legal area of the relationships alliances out of normal people. We have zero facts your strategies demonstrated in these data files could be identical to those who work in Persia but not parallels lived and the information are revealing. Forty-five such as for example wedding contracts is receive inside Babylonia. This new deals are often involving the spouse and members of the fresh bride’s relatives. They begin with the newest partner’s guarantee is considering the lady in marriage and you may gift ideas is made available to the brand new bride to be and you may their particular relatives.

The household had been monogamous however, under particular conditions husbands you can expect to wed most other wives and you can had been allowed sexual intercourse with slaves and you will household servants ( a common routine in the area)

In case your partner chooses to simply take the next partner he is supply the first partner a specified amount of money, and you can she will get go back to their particular household. The latest ladies’ dowry can include residential property, house devices, precious jewelry, currency and you will submissives. In the example of wife’s adultery the abuse is often dying. The new contracts were close in front of several witnesses who have been also named throughout the agreements.

Almost every other data files inside Babylonia (as well as Elam and Egypt) show that feminine owned attributes, that they you’ll sell otherwise lease. Following death of their own husband, the brand new widowed wife passed down regarding the lifeless in the event she performed n’t have children. A woman could not act as an observe from the drawing right up of deals, however, she you may play the role of an employing team and possess their own own secure. This isn’t obvious what would end up being the case in the event the an effective people got more two wives. When the a woman passed away childless, the fresh new dowry try gone back to the house out of their unique father.

If there were people from a couple wives, the children of the basic spouse handed down two-thirds therefore the anybody else 1 / 3rd merely

There were attempts by Darius to codify the legal system but no standard set of laws is discovered. The conquered territories used their own legal system with little interference from the central administration. For example Jewish colonies in Elephantine in Egypt followed their own legal code. Husbands remained monogamous and all property and family matters were settled in the special courts of the Jews. Of all the territories under Achaemenid administration Egyptian women enjoyed more rights and privileges. A husband did not have the right to pawn her wife as security for debts. This practice existed in various forms in Babylonia and even Sassanian Persia. Wives retained their own property in marriage and after divorce. They also had the right to transfer their property to their children as inheritance and could initiate divorce. If the husband initiated divorce he had to apportion a part of the property to his wife. If the woman asked for a divorce she had to return the money she had received from her husband as bride price and could not lay claim upon property acquired jointly with the husband. Sons and daughters inherited equal portions. However fathers’ power over children was substantial and he could pawn them as security for debt.