The Babatha Archive
The Babatha archive contains thirty-five papyri belonging to a wealthy Judean woman from the second century CE. Found in the Cave of Letters, these documents illustrate a woman's legal and economic autonomy in second-century Judea.
The Family and Economic Life of a Judean Woman
The Babatha archive is a collection of personal documents belonging to a wealthy Judean woman named Babatha. Found wrapped in a leather bundle in the Cave of Letters, to which Babatha apparently fled at the start of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132 CE, the thirty-five papyrus documents provide important insights into women’s legal and economic activities in Roman Judea. As we learn from the documents, Babatha was born around 104 CE and inherited an orchard of date palms from her father. She married, had a son named Yeshu‘a, and was widowed by 124 CE. Shortly thereafter, she became the second wife of a man named Judah, whose first wife Miriam was still living and with whom he had a teenage daughter, Shelamzion. Loan documents show that Judah borrowed money from Babatha, an indication that she managed her own money. After Judah died, she was remitted her loan through the value of his estates. Babatha’s inheritance from Judah included three date-palm orchards, over which she assumed control.