Brooklyn Museum 47.218.90a-b
Testamentary Manumission
TAD B.3.06
Metadata
- Collection
- Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, USA | Brook (Public)
- Genres
-
- Legal (Content)
- Contract
- Legal | Withdrawal
- Will
- Testament
- manumission
- ספר מרחק זי כתב PN (Ancient)
- Language
- Aramaic
- Script
- Aramaic
- Find Type
- Unprovenanced: Explorer Aquisition
- Acquired
- Charles Wilbour [1893]
- Created by
- James D. Moore
- Material
- papyrus
- Text Direction Side 1
- perpendicular (⟂) to the material's lines
- Text Direction Side 2
- parallel (∥) to the material's lines
- Updated by
- James D. Moore, 2026-01-18
- Date (Metadata)
- Gregorian 12.06.-427 [Persian, 5th cent. BCE]
- Date (Composition in text)
- Babylonian 20.iii Art 38 [Persian, 5th cent. BCE]
- Date (Other date in text)
- Egyptian 7.vii Art 38 [Persian, 5th cent. BCE]
- References
-
- Lepper, Verena M. et al. . ERC 307764.
- Porten, Bezalel and Yardeni, Ada 1986. TAD B.03.06.
“Localizing 4,000 Years of Cultural History. Texts and Scripts from Elephantine Island in Egypt. ERC Grant ID: 637692,” n.d. TBA.
Porten, Bezalel, and Ada Yardeni. Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt. 4 vols. Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1986.
Textual Notes
–TAD B.3.6 . This is probably a copy of an original. Note that the witnesses are in Haggai’s hand and not their own. ln. 12 parablepses of ז between the near palondromic ברכ ז כבר זי; so too הנ קמנ ln. 13.
–scribal error. Perhaps the whole phrase לא שליט בכ is accidentally redulicated.
–Strange cross stroke on the ל of ולזכור ln. 14
–makes errors on every document. Smudges and overwrites. smudges and skips. above insertions of skipped words. Cf. e.g. TAD B.3.6.
–Metathesis of ילדתי written לידתי b.3.6.6, and without the dalet in ln. 5 and 8 ילתי. Other grammatical error ln. 7 ברתכ for ברתכי.
–uses אמרת 3fs for 3fp expect, אמרה. But this form is not attested in ln. 11
–“ ln. 11 gram error יפלחנכ for נפלחנכ. also error of זי for expected כזי.
–Ln. 7 see Kraeling p. 184. Rejects root ˀZL and favors ZWL.
–Uses a scribal mark long underscore at the start of the final line of a section B.3.6.10 / 11. Section divider? Cf. the Ahiqar proverbs.
r 9: טלא לסמשא see concordance.
r 11- 12: the ponouns on the end of father are perhaps in error, at least in one case?
r 12: note the phrase ברכ כבר is similar to the adoption phrase and rejection phrases found in Ahiqar.
r 14: not in ln. 14 and here there is legal danger of patemet being claimed by mešullam's son.
r 15: note that Ḥaggay did not give his full name--a rookie error.
Grelot 46
Text and Translation
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James Moore
James Moore
On the 20th of Sivan, that is day 7 of Phamenoth, year 38 of Artaxerxes the king, then
said Mešullam son of Zakkûr, a Judean of Fort Elephantine belonging to the degal-unit of ˀIddinnabû, to (the) lady named Tapemet
his female-servant, who is branded on her right hand according to (the) conveyance “Belonging to Mešullam,” saying: I intended for you
in my life (the status/document of) freedom. I (will have) released you (f.s.) at my death and I released the one named Yahyišmaˁ your (f.s.) daughter, whom
you (f.s.) bore me. (6) Neither (7) a son of mine \or a daughter,/ or a brother of mine or a sister, a relative or a competitor, a partner-in-chattel or a partner-in-land
has right to you (f.s.) or to Yahyišmaˁ your (f.s.) daughter, whom you (f.s.) bore(!) me--does not have right to you (m.s. !),
to brand you (f.s.) or to cheapen you (f.s.) (with) a mandattu-payment of silver. Whoever shall stand up against you (f.s.) or against Yahyišmaˁ your (m.s.) daughter,
whom you (f.s.) bore me, shall give you a penalty, silver, 50 karš according to the stone(-weight)s of the king, and you (f.s.)
are released from the shadow of the Sun-God (i.e. S/Šamaš). Yahyišmaˁ your (f.s.) daughter or another person does not have right
over you (f.s.) or over Yahyišmaˁ your (f.s.) daughter, but you are released to the god.
And said Tapemet and Yahyišmaˁ her daughter: We, (they!) shall serve you (m.s.), (a)s a son or daughter supports his father,
in your (m.s.) lifetime(.) and until your death(.) we shall support Zakkûr your son like a son who supports her father, as we shall have been doing
for you (m.s.) in your (m.s.) lifetime. If we, ourselves, stand up, saying: “We will not support you, (m.s.) as a son supports
his father, nor Zakkûr your (m.s.) son, after your death, (then) we shall be guilty. To you (m.s.) and to Zakkûr your (m.s.) son (we shall give) a penalty of
silver, 50 karš by the stone(-weight)s of the king, refined silver. There is no lawsuit. There is no litigation. Ḥaggay wrote
this document in Elephantine at the instruction of Mešullam son of Zakkûr. And the witnesses herein: (2nd hand) ˀAtrafarna son of Nîsaya,
a Mede; (3rd hand) witness Mîkyah son of ˀAḥyô; (4th hand) witness Berakyah son of Mipṭaḥ; (5th hand) Dalah son of Gaddûl.
[Document] (sealing) of withdrawal which Mešullam son of Zakkûr wrote for Tapemet and Yahyišma(ˁ).
Moore, James D.. 'Brooklyn Museum 47.218.90a-b.' DEAPS. 12 Dec, 2025. https://deaps.osu.edu/text_objects/11904. Accessed: 20 Jan, 2026.