Iranian Studies

Social Status of the Old Elamite Women: Gimil-Adad’s will from the Sukkalmah Period (ca. 1650 BC.)

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Hossein Badamchi

Assistant Professor of History University of Tehran

https://doi.org/10.22059/jis.2014.51696
Abstract
The Old Elamite documents are indeed rare, but from Susa in the Sukkalmah Period there are some 550 legal documents in Akkadian which provide an excellent opportunity to study Elamite society and culture. The present paper edits and translates a unique and very interesting will made by Gimil-Adad, a man from Susa in the 17th century BC. In order to provide the historical context for the proper study of the content of this will, we first outline the historical situation of the period. Then we deal with some legal aspects of testament law based on contemporary documents from Susa, Mesopotamia and Egypt. This study shows that parents could not arbitrarily deprive their children from inheritance. However, children’s failure to provide for the aging parent could justify the disinheritance. The text itself sheds light on the social and legal status of women in Elam and demonstrates most clearly that women had capacity to do legal transactions. As there is no English translation of the documents we have provided an English version as well.

Keywords

Women
social status
will
Sukkalmah
Inheritance
Elam
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