Letter of a slave girl to her master - Old Babylonian letter

[AlessandraAsteriti]

*Tell my master: Your slave girl Dabitum sends the following
message:

What I have told you now has happened to me: For seven
months this (unborn) child was in my body, but for a month now
the child has been dead and nobody wants to take care of me.
May it please my master (to do something) lest I die. Come visit
me and let me see the face of my master! Why did
no present from you arrive for me? And if I have to die, let me
die after I have seen again the face of my master!*

We can see the backstory, a young slave girl raped by her master, getting pregnant and losing her baby and her place in the household. Women's invisible history of oppression and abuse for once coming to the surface, thanks to a 4000 years old cuneiform tablet.

That’s dreadful. How did she get someone to write that (scribes)? Its really shocking to realise it was 4,000 years ago. I do hope her master went to see her. My heart breaks for her.

I imagine she had somebody writing it for her. It is heartbreaking, isn't it? So long ago, but her pain so vivid.

Wow 4000 years ago. Heartbreaking

Thanks for sharing. We know this misogynistic treatment of women is as old as time, but rarely do we get to hear the woman's voice. The pleading question,, 'why did no present arrive from you?', is heartbreaking. We all know the answer is because he didn't give a shit about her. Had he pretended to care? Did he get off on her doting after him? Tell her she was pretty? Special? What a bastard.

A tale as old as time.

Does she mean her baby died at six months’ gestation but has not been delivered yet, or she gave birth at seven months and her baby was stillborn?

So sad. It sounds like a case of being groomed and “seduced” as she feels an emotional bond to him (the dickhead), agree it’s heartbreaking.

What is the exact origin and source of the letter AlessandraAsteriti?

@QuaterMiss
Old Babylonian letters. In Mesopotamia writing was done on clay, so it is basically indestructible, we have 1000s and 1000s of tablets, letters, legal documents, historical annals, commercial documents, contracts, anything you can think of. So you get to glean a lot of private life. There is another letter of a teenager complaining to his mum that he never gets any new clothes, and his friend does, and he is even adopted, and his parents love him more!

oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/letters_from_mesopotamia.pdf

Thank you for the link!

And yes, that letter is terrifyingly sad.

Oh my god. Written in clay. Chills. Thanks for sharing