Endnote 33 – Babatha’s Story

The suggestion that the marriage contracts of the younger generation (Judah’s daughter Shelamzion in P. Yadin 18 and Salome in P. Yadin 37), which were in Greek, bespeak a social trend toward gentile ways is very doubtful. See Lewis, Ranon Katzoff and Greenfield, “Papyrus Yadin 18, ” IEJ 37 (1987), p. 231. The time difference is slight, and the interpenetration of Aramaic and Greek in Jewish culture is extensive and long lived. Many other circumstances could have dictated the language of the marriage contract, or it might have been a matter of indifference.