Babatha Archive (jan 2, 93 – jan 1, 132)

Description:

The Babatha Archive is a collection of 35 legal documents written on papyrus in Greek, Nabataean, and Aramaic, ranging in date from 93/94 CE to 132 CE. (The archaeological context of the texts requires that they were placed in situ after November 134 CE.) The archive records the private transactions--and the demands for the fulfillment of rigths and obligations created by those transactions--of Babatha, daughter of Joseph son of Menashe.

Babatha was a Jewish woman (even though her name is characteristically un-Jewish), who was twiced widowed, as well as a proprietor of palm groves in the Dead Sea region in the early second century CE. Her legal documents concern the guaradianship of her orphaned son, following the death of her first husband, as well as her financial dealings with her palm groves. The litigations recorded in the documents attest to the tensions between local, Jewish non-citizens, the local authorities, and superior Roman authorities. It seems that Babatha, as a young widow, was the victim of various parties attempting to take financial advantage of her and her property.

The documents were discovered in March 1961 by Yigael Yadin in the Cave of Leters at Naḥal Ḥever (see 5/6 Ḥev 1-35), about 5 km southwest of Ein Gedi.

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