Women Protecting Their Assets in 2nd Century AD: Loans and Marriage Contracts from the Dead Sea Scrolls

• In Event: Accounting Leadership/Accounting History/Auditing

Abstract

This research offers a glimpse of how women in the 2nd century AD conducted financial planning to secure their financial future. Our focus is on actions taken by women of this period. We explore the Babatha Archive and other ancient texts from the Dead Sea region to provide insight into how women were able to plan and secure their financial future while at the same time supporting their husbands. These texts provide us with an awareness of the nature of Jewish life around the Dead Sea in ancient times and how the financial future for women might be safeguarded.

Authors

• William F Bowlin, North Dakota State University

• Stephen Reed, Jamestown College

• David Noel Herda, North Dakota State University