Akadca Çivi Yazılı Belgelerde Çeyiz

Çeyiz verme evlilik süreci içerisinde önemli bir gelenek olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Çeyiz, günümüzde baba tarafından evlenecek olan kızına verdiği evlilik hediyesidir. Ancak bazı çivi yazılı Akadca belgelerde, çeyiz bir hediye olmasının yanında babanın kızına mirasından pay vermesi olarak da yorumlanmaktadır. Bununla birlikte babalar bazen çeyizin içeriğini tespit etmek ve kızının çeyiz üzerindeki haklarını korumak için erkek tarafıyla bir anlaşma yaptığı yazılı belgelerden anlaşılmaktadır. Babasının evinden çeyiziyle ayrılan kadın, yaşamı boyunca çeyizi üzerinde kullanım hakkına sahip oluyordu ve öldüğü zamanda bu çeyiz çocuklarına miras olarak aktarılıyordu. Eski devirlerde, kanun metinleri ve sivil halka ait özel kayıtlarda bu konuya sıklıkla yer verilmesi, meselenin hem hukuki hem de toplumsal sorunlara yol açtığını göstermektedir. Çeyiz kelimesi çivi yazılı Akadca kaynaklarda genellikle “šeriktu(m)” ve “nudunnû(m)” kelimeleri ile karşılanmıştır. Devletin yazılı kanunlarında ve halkın özel kayıtlarında bu konu üzerinde durulması, muhtemelen daha önce karşılaşılmış olan sorunların önüne geçme ve çeyizin sahibi olan kadını koruma amacı taşıyordu.

Dowry in Documents Written with Akadian Cuneiform

The dowry is an important tradition in the marriage process. Dowry is a marriage gift given by fathers to their married daughter at the present time. However dowry is interpreted as giving a share of the inheritance to the father’s daughter as well as being a gift in some cuneiform Akkadian documents. At the same time, it is understood from the text (the written documents) that, fathers make sometimes an agreement with the male side (the family of male) in order to determine the content of the dowry and to protect the rights of his daughter on the dowry. The woman, who left her father’s house with her dowry, had the right to use the dowry during her life and the dowry was transferred as an inheritance to her children at the time of her death.The fact that this issue was frequently mentioned in the old times, the texts of the law and the private records of the civilian population shows that the issue has caused both legal and social problems. Dowry was named as “šeriktum” and “nudunnûm” in cuneiform Akkadian resources. To focus on this issue in the written laws of the state and the public’s private archives had probably the aim of protecting the womes who owned the dowry.

___

  • Albayrak, İrfan, “Kültepe’de Ele Geçen Vasiyetnamelere Göre Eski Anadolu’da Miras Anlayışı”, 38. Uluslararası Asya ve Kuzey Afrika Çalışmaları Kongresi (ICANAS), (2007), 137-150.
  • ____________, “Asurlu Tüccar Šu-İštar’ın Kültepe’de Ele Geçen Vasiyetnamesi”, Cahit Günbattı’ya Armağan (Editörler: İrfan Albayrak, Hakan Erol ve Murat Çayır), Ankara Üniversitesi Basımevi, Ankara, (2015), 15-27.
  • Anderson, Siwan, “The Economics of Dowry and Brideprice”, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 21, No. 4 (2007), 151-174.
  • Bayram, Sabahattin - Kuzuoğlu, Remzi, “Takı takma Adetinin Eski Asur Toplumundaki izleri”, Cahit Günbattı’ya Armağan (Editörler: İrfan Albayrak, Hakan Erol ve Murat Çayır), Ankara Üniversitesi Basımevi, Ankara, (2015), 29-38.
  • Black, Jeremy - George, Andrew and Postgate, Nicholas, A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian (CDA), (Edi. Karl Hecker und Walter Sommerfeld), Harrassowitz Verlag • Wiesbaden, 2000.
  • Boissier, Alfred, Recherches Sur Quelques Contrats Babyloniens, Paris, 1890.
  • Botticini, Maristella - Siow Aloysius, “Why Dowries”, The American Economic Review, 93/4 (2003), 1385-1398.
  • Brinkman, John A., “Babylonia c. 1000-748 B.C.”, CAH, III/1, Cambridge University Press, (2008), 282-314.
  • Çeçen, Salih, “idinnum Kelimesinin Anlamı Hakkında Yeni Bir Teklif ” ArAn 2, (1997), 19-24.
  • ____________, “mutanu in den Kültepe Texten”, ArAn 1, (1995), 43-72.
  • Dalley, Stephanie, “Old Babylonian Dowries”, Iraq, Vol. 42, No. 1 British Institute for the Study of Iraq (1980), 53-74.
  • Driver, Godfrey Rolles - Miles, John C., The Assyrian Laws, Oxford at The Clarendon Press, 1960.
  • ____________, The Babylonian Laws, I, Oxford at The Clarendon Press, 1960.
  • Emiroğlu, Kudret - Aydın, Suavi, Antropoloji Sözlüğü, Bilim ve Sanat Yayınları, Ankara, 2003.
  • Erol, Hakan, “Kültepe’den İki Yeni Prosopografi k Mektup: Bir Annenin Oğlunu Evlendirme Çabası”, Uluslararası Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, Cilt: 9 Sayı: 42, (2016), 959-956.
  • Gaulin, Steven J. C. and Boster, James S., “Dowry as Female Competition” American Anthropologist New Series, 92/4 (1990), 994-1005.
  • Gökçek, L. Gürkan, “Pilah-İštar Arşivinden Aile Hukukuna Dair Bazı Yazışmalar”, ArAn, 7/2, (2004), 65-74.
  • Grayson, Albert Kirk, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC. II (858—745 B.C.), (The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian Periods, 3), Toronto, 1996.
  • Grosz, Katarzyna, “Bridewealth and Dowry in Nuzi”, Images of Women in Antiquity (Edit. Averil Cameron and Amelie Kuhrt), London, (1993), 193-205.
  • Hawkins, John David, “The Neo-Hittite states in Syria and Anatolia”, CAH, III/1, Cambridge University Press, (2008), 372-442.
  • Jastrow, Morris, “An Assyrian Law Code”, Journal of american Oriental Society, 41, (1921), 1-59.
  • King, Leonard William, Bronze Reliefs from the Gates of Shalmaneser, King of Assyria B.C.860- 825, London, 1915.
  • Luckenbill, Daniel David, “The Temple Women of the Code of Hammurabi”, The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, 34/1, (1917), 1-12.
  • ____________, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia (ARAB), I, Chicago: Chicago Universty Press, 1926.
  • Morrison, Martha A., The Eastern Archives of Nuzi Part 1, Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians - SCCNH 4 (Editors: E. R. Lacheman, Martha A. Morrison, and David I. Owen), 1993.
  • Nemet-Nejat - Karen Rhea, “Women in Ancient Mesopotamia”, Women’s Roles in Ancient Civilizations (Edi. Bella Vivante), Greenwood Press, London, (1999), 85- 114.
  • ____________, Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Hendrickson Publisher, 2002.
  • Oelsner, Joachim - Wells Bruce - Wunsch Cornelia, “Neo-Babylonian Period”, A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law (Ed. Raymond Westbrook), Brill, Leiden- Boston, (2003), 911-974.
  • Poebel, Arno, Legal and Business Documents from the Time of the First Dynasty of Babylon Chtefl y from Nippur, The Babylonian Expedition (BE) (Edi. H. V. Hilprecht), VI/ 2 University of Pennsylvania, 1909.
  • Ranke, Hermann, Legal and Business Documents from the Time of the First Dynasty of Babylon Chtefl y from Nippur, The Babylonian Expedition (BE) (Edi. H. V. Hilprecht), VI/I, University of Pennsylvania, 1906.
  • Roth, Martha T., Babylonian Marriage Agreements: 7th - 3rd centuries B.C., AOAT 222. Kevelaer: Butzon and Bercker. 1989.
  • ____________, Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, Scholars Press, Atlanta, 1995.
  • Speiser, Ephraim Avigdor, “New Kirkuk Documents Relating to Family Laws”, The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Vol. 10 (1930), 1-73.
  • Stol, Marten, “Private Life in Ancient Near East”, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East I, (Edi. Jack M. Sasson), Michigan, (2006), 485-501.
  • Stol, Marten, “Women in Mesopotami”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Women’s History, 38/2, (1995), 123-144.
  • The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD).
  • Tosun, Mebrure - Yalvaç, Kadriye, Sümer, Babil, Assur Kanunları ve Ammi-Şaduqa Fermanı, Ankara, TTK, 2002.
  • Veenhof, Klaas Roelof, “Two Marriage Documents from Kültepe”, ArAn 3, (1997), 357-381.
  • Vincent, George E., “The Laws of Hammurabi”, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 9, No. 6 May, (1904), 737-754.
  • Westbrook, Raymond, The Character of Ancient Near Eastern Law, A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law (ed. Raymond Westbrook), Brill, Leiden-Boston, (2003), 1-93.
  • Westbrook, Raymond, The Old Babylonian Mariage Law, Horn/Austria, 1988.
  • Westermack, Edward, The History of Human Marriage, New York, 1891.
  • Wunsch, Comelia, “Women’s Property and the Law of Inheritance in the Neo- Babylonian Period” Women and Property Conference, (Edits. Lyons, Deborah - Westbrook, Raymond), Center for Hellenic Studies. Harvard University, (2003), 1-8.
  • Yalvaç, Kadriye, “Eski Babil’de Kız Evladın Miras Meselesi”, D.T.C.F. Dergisi, 23, Ankara, (1965), 31-36.