Mibtahiah

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Mibtahiah (476 BC - before 416 BC), was a Jewish businesswoman and banker. She belonged to the first Jewish women of which there is any information outside of the Bible, as well as the first of Jewish businesswomen. She is well-documented from the Ancient Aramaic papyrus collections from Elephantine in Egypt, known as the Mond-Cecil papyri in the Cairo Museum and the Bodleian papyri, which is also named the Mibtahiah archive after her.[1]

Mibtahiah was the daughter of a businessman, Mahseiah, and may have had a sister named Miptahiah, as well as a nephew, the Jewish leader Jedaniah.[1][2] Mibtahiah was married three times, and her marriages included 'prenuptial agreements' that safeguarded her wealth and property.[3] One of her husbands was an Egyptian builder, Eshor (who later took the name Nathan), with whom she was a business partner.[4][5] She inherited an estate from her father, which she grew throughout her life and business, leaving an inheritance to her own children.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Meyer, Anthony R. (2022-09-09), "From Elephantine to the British Museum Drachm", Naming God in Early Judaism, Brill | Schöningh, pp. 55–72, doi:10.30965/9783657703500_004, ISBN 978-3-657-70350-0, retrieved 2024-01-11
  2. ^ Garber, Zev (2021). "From Migdol to Syene: Documents Pertaining to Jews in Egypt in the Persian Period by Bezalel Porten". The Catholic Biblical Quarterly. 83 (2): 323–325. doi:10.1353/cbq.2021.0055. ISSN 2163-2529. S2CID 234204283.
  3. ^ Taitz, Emily; Henry, Sondra; Tallan, Cheryl (2003-02-01). The JPS Guide to Jewish Women: 600 B.C.E.to 1900 C.E. Jewish Publication Society. ISBN 978-0-8276-0752-1.
  4. ^ Kaplan, Philip (June 2003). "Cross-cultural Contacts among Mercenary Communities in Saite and Persian Egypt". Mediterranean Historical Review. 18 (1): 1–31. doi:10.1080/09518960412331302193. ISSN 0951-8967. S2CID 162194263.
  5. ^ "The Ones Returning: Ruth, Naomi, and Social Negotiation in the Post-Exilic Period", Women and Exilic Identity in the Hebrew Bible, Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017, doi:10.5040/9780567668455.ch-002, ISBN 978-0-567-66842-4, retrieved 2024-01-11
  6. ^ Porten, Bezalel; Szubin, H. Z. (April 1982). ""Abandoned Property" in Elephantine: A New Interpretation of Kraeling 3". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 41 (2): 123–131. doi:10.1086/372930. ISSN 0022-2968. S2CID 162394624.

Further reading[edit]

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