Editing Elephantine papyri and ostraca (section)

====Marriage document====
[[File:Aramaic. Marriage Document, July 3, 449 B.C.E..jpg|right|thumbnail|Marriage Document of Ananiah and Tamut, July 3, 449 BCE, [[Brooklyn Museum]]]]
Ancient marriage documents generally formalized already existing relationships. In this case, Ananiah and Tamut already had a young son when the document was drawn up. Because Tamut was a slave when she married Ananiah, the contract has special conditions: usually, it was the groom and his father-in-law who made Jewish marriage agreements, but Ananiah made this contract with Tamut's master, Meshullam, who legally was her father. In addition, special provision was made to free the couple's son, also a slave to Meshullam; perhaps Ananiah consented to the small dowry of either 7 or 15 [[shekels]] (the text is ambiguous) in order to obtain his son's freedom. Future children, however, would still be born slaves. In contrast to Jewish documents like this one, contemporaneous Egyptian marriage documents were negotiated between a husband and wife.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bleiberg|author-link=Edward Bleiberg|first1=Edward|title=Jewish Life in Ancient Egypt: A Family Archive from the Nile Valley|date=2002|publisher=Brooklyn Museum of Art|location=Brooklyn, NY|page=26}}</ref>