Editing Assyria (section)

==== Status of women ====
[[File:Naqi'a crop.png|thumb|[[Naqi'a]], [[Sennacherib]]'s wife, 8th-7th centuries BC, the most documented woman in Assyrian history.{{sfn|Fink|2020}}]]
The main evidence concerning the lives of ordinary women in ancient Assyria is in administrative documents and law codes.{{Sfn|Bain|2017}} There was no legal distinction between men and women in the Old Assyrian period and they had more or less the same rights in society.{{sfn|Michel|2017|p=81}} Since several letters written by women are known from the Old Assyrian period, it is evident that women were free to learn how to read and write.{{sfn|Michel|2017|p=100}} Both men and women paid the same fines, could inherit property, participated in trade, bought, owned, and sold houses and slaves, made their own last wills, and were allowed to divorce their partners.{{sfn|Michel|2017|p=84}}

Records of Old Assyrian marriages confirm that the [[dowry]] to the bride belonged to her, not the husband, and it was inherited by her children after her death.{{sfn|Michel|2017|p=85}} Although they were equal legally, men and women in the Old Assyrian period were raised and socialized differently and had different social expectations and obligations. Typically, girls were raised by their mothers, taught to spin, weave, and help with daily tasks. Boys were taught trades by masters, later often following their fathers on trade expeditions. Sometimes the eldest daughter of a family was consecrated as a priestess. She was not allowed to marry and became economically independent.{{sfn|Michel|2017|pp=88–89}}

Wives were expected to provide their husbands with garments and food. Although marriages were typically [[monogamous]], husbands were allowed to buy a female slave in order to produce an heir if his wife was [[Infertility|infertile]]. The wife was allowed to choose that slave and the slave never gained the status of a second wife.{{sfn|Michel|2017|p=85}} Husbands who were away on long trading journeys were allowed to take a second wife in one of the trading colonies, although with strict rules that must be followed: the second wife was not allowed to accompany him back to Assur and both wives had to be provided with a home to live in, food, and wood.{{sfn|Michel|2017|p=85}}

The status of women decreased in the Middle Assyrian period, as can be gathered from laws concerning them among the [[Middle Assyrian Laws]]. Among these laws were punishments for various crimes, often sexual or marital ones.{{Sfn|Bain|2017}}{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=157}} Although they did not deprive women of all their rights and they were not significantly different from other ancient Near Eastern laws of their time, the Middle Assyrian Laws effectively made women second-class citizens.{{Sfn|Bain|2017}} It is not clear how strongly these laws were enforced.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=157}}

These laws gave men the right to punish their wives as they wished. Among the harshest punishments written into these laws, for a crime not even committed by the woman, was that a raped woman would be forcibly married to her rapist.{{Sfn|Bain|2017}} These laws also specified that certain women were obliged to wear veils while out on the street, marital status being the determining factor. Some women, such as slave women and ''ḫarımtū'' women, were prohibited from wearing veils and others, such as certain priestesses, were only allowed to wear veils if they were married.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=157}}

Not all laws were suppressive against women. Women whose husbands died or were taken prisoner in war, and who did not have any sons or relatives to support them, were guaranteed support from the government.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=158}} The ''ḫarımtū'' women have historically been believed to have been prostitutes, but today, are interpreted as women with an independent social existence, i.e. not tied to a husband, father, or institution. Although most ''ḫarımtū'' appear to have been poor, there were noteworthy exceptions. The term appears with negative connotations in several texts. Their mere existence makes it clear that it was possible for women to live independent lives, despite their lesser social standing during that period.{{Sfn|Bain|2017}}

During the Neo-Assyrian period that followed, royal and upper-class women experienced increased influence.{{Sfn|Svärd|2015|pp=163–166}} Women attached to the Neo-Assyrian royal court sent and received letters, were independently wealthy, and could buy and own lands of their own.{{Sfn|Bain|2017}} The [[queens of the Neo-Assyrian Empire]] are better attested historically than queens of preceding periods of the culture. Under the Sargonid dynasty, they were granted their own military units. Sometimes they are known to have partaken in military campaigns alongside other units.{{Sfn|Svärd|2015|pp=163–166}}

Among the most influential women of the Neo-Assyrian period were [[Shammuramat]], queen of [[Shamshi-Adad V]] ({{reign}}824–811&nbsp;BC), who in the reign of her son [[Adad-nirari III]] ({{reign}}811–783&nbsp;BC) might have been regent and participated in military campaigns.{{Sfn|Kertai|2013|p=113}}{{Sfn|Svärd|2015|p=167}} Another is [[Naqi'a]], who influenced politics in the reigns of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal.{{Sfn|Fink|2020}}