THE FAMILY IN ANCIENT ASSYRIA: RAISING CHILDREN AND INHERITANCE RELATIONS

Abstract

For Eastern culture, traditional was and still is a specific, different from Western culture, idea of the family, its functions and tasks. Unlike in the West, in the Eastern society since ancient times, the family has been patriarchal, since there has always been absolute dependence of a woman on a man. Moreover, a woman in the East had limited rights, or even was completely deprived of them. Her main task was to fully obey her husband, to satisfy all his demands and needs, as well as to give birth to children and take care of them. So, the main reason for which a family was created and a marriage was concluded was the birth of children, i.e. heirs. To a certain extent, such conservative rules and regulations regarding family and marriage in Eastern countries are preserved to this day. However, we should note that in different regions of the East today, as in ancient times, family relations, the position of women in the family, raising children and inheritance rights had their own specificity. Peculiarities of marital and family relations are determined primarily by the legal position of a woman. In some places, a woman had more rights, as it was, for example, in Ancient Egypt, where representatives of the highest social strata could get an education, engage in science, even head the state. But in Ancient India, a feature of family relations was the ambiguous position of a woman, because, on the one hand, according to Indian laws, she had to be respected and protected, and on the other hand, the same laws determined her absolute dependence on her father, husband or sons. The position of women in Ancient Assyria was even different, which among the state formations of the Ancient East was distinguished by the most aggressive conquering policy, which determined the privileged position of men. Taking into account the above, the article analyzes the peculiarities of marriage and family relations based on the analysis of the texts of Old Assyrian laws, namely, the legal position of women is shown, their legal vulnerability is shown. Through the prism of the position of women, the attitude towards children of various articles is demonstrated, the peculiarities of the upbringing of boys and girls are determined. Considerable attention is also devoted to the rules of property inheritance.