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Re: orion-list cemeteries
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Rick Strelan wrote:
> Could the imbalance of males and females in cemeteries partly be accounted
> for if, in fact, a widow left the area on the death of her spouse? I assume
> most wives were [considerably] younger than their husbands.
>
At first sight, this suggestion seemed quite worth considering to me, but I
don't think it will lead very far: Though I believe that the wives were quite
young at the time of their (first) marriage, I am not convinced that most of
them lived long enough to see the death of their husbands, if you do not assume
that they lived a kind of "Josephsehe": Lots of women in that times died young
from too many pregnancies, one following each other, or from miscarriages. I
can't believe that, under those circumstances, so many woman would have lived
longer than the men.
Take a look at the OT, especially the Patriarchs and their wives: Sarah, though
only having one late child, dies before Abraham. Rachel dies giving birth to
Benjamin. I think that this kind of situation was common as well in the Second
Temple Period.
In law texts, of course, we learn more about widows than widowers, as the men
had no problems in marrying again, and they had no problem with their social
status or means to live on.
Marion Sieker-Greb
Tettnang, Germany
For private reply, e-mail to Marion.Sieker-Greb@t-online.de (Marion Sieker-Greb)
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