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Re: orion-list cemeteries



>Rick Strelan wrote:
>> Could the imbalance of males and females in cemeteries partly be accounted
>> for if, in fact, a widow left the area on the death of her spouse? I assume
>> most wives were [considerably] younger than their husbands.
>>
>
>At first sight, this suggestion seemed quite worth considering to me, but I
>don't think it will lead very far:  Though I believe that the wives were
>quite
>young at the time of their (first) marriage, I am not convinced that most of
>them lived long enough to see the death of their husbands, if you do not
>assume
>that they lived a kind of "Josephsehe":  Lots of women in that times died
>young
>from too many pregnancies, one following each other, or from miscarriages.  I
>can't believe that, under those circumstances, so many woman would have lived
>longer than the men.
>Take a look at the OT, especially the Patriarchs and their wives: Sarah,
>though
>only having one late child, dies before Abraham. Rachel dies giving birth to
>Benjamin. I think that this kind of situation was common as well in the
>Second
>Temple Period.
>In law texts, of course, we learn more about widows than widowers, as the men
>had no problems in marrying again, and they had no problem with their social
>status or means to live on.
>
>Marion Sieker-Greb
>

Thanks. The women buried in DS cemeteries apparently belong in a much
younger age bracket [16-35] than the men [>75] - precisely for the reasons
you mentioned?? I'm not wishing to make any point.

Rick

Dr Rick Strelan
Studies in Religion
University of Queensland
Australia 4072


For private reply, e-mail to Rick Strelan <rick.strelan@mailbox.uq.edu.au>
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