Deed of Gift from Babatha’s Husband, Judah, to His Daughter

In the consulship of Publius Metilius Nepos for the second time and Marcus Annius Libo sixteen days before the kalends of May, according to the compute of the new province year twenty-third on the twenty-sixth of Xandikos, in Maoza of Zoara district, Judah son of Elazar Khthousion, an En-gedian domiciled in Maoza, willed to Shelamzious, his daughter, all his possessions in En-gedi, viz. half of the courtyard across from(?) the synagogue(?) . . . including(?) half of the rooms and the upper-storey rooms therein, but excluding the small old court near the said courtyard, and the other half of the courtyard and rooms Judah willed to the said Shelamzious [to have] after his death; of which courtyard and rooms the abutters [are], on the east [property] of Jesus son of Maddaronas and an empty lot, on the west the testator, on the south a market, on the north a street (and Shelamzious shall not be responsible for any error [in this statement] of boundaries), together with entrances and exits, bricks, roof, doors, windows and existing appurtenances of every kind, so that the aforesaid Shelamzious shall have the half of the aforesaid courtyard and rooms from today, and the other half after the death of the said Judah, validly and securely for all time, to build, raise up, raise higher, excavate, deepen, possess, use, sell and manage in whatever manner she may choose, all valid and secure. And whenever Shelamzious summons the said Judah, he will register it with the public authorities.

[2nd hand, Aramaic] Yehudah son of Elazar Khthousion: I have given the courtyard and the house therein to Shelamzion my daughter according to what is written above. . . . Yehudah wrote it.

[1st hand] I, _____ as son of Simon, wrote [this].

On the back, individual signatures

Elazar son of Ḥilqiyah, witness

_______ son of ____, witness

Yeshu‘a son of ____, witness

S]oumaios son of Ka[.]‌abaios, witness

?

Yehudah son of Yehudah, witness

_______ son of ____, witness