Domestic Antiquities

II. Domestic Antiquities:

The every-day life of each person involves a large number of items. These embrace the food available and used, the material accessible for clothing and the method of its manufacture, as well as the usual clothing worn by the people, and the method of preparing and wearing the head-gear. The individual lived also in a dwelling of some kind; either in a hole in the rocks, a tent, a hut, a house, or in an elaborate structure in a city. How were these various dwellings prepared, and what was their internal arrangement? What led to the aggregation of such buildings, which later became cities? The replies to these questions will be of supreme moment in following the growth of individual rights and privileges.

The Jewish family has a most interesting history. The family formed the next step upward from the individual, and was probably the basis of the clan. The laws of marriage and their binding character were essentials in the perpetuity of the nation. The position and rights of the woman before and after marriage, in the condition of monogamy and of polygamy, and in case of divorce, fall under this theme. The relations of the children to the individual parents, the methods of naming them, the observance of the rite of circumcision, their training and education in and out of the home, must be noted. The constitution of the Oriental family involved slaves, with certain laws of purchase and retention, both Israelitish and foreign. Certain diseases also often attacked, and sometimes found victims in, the family. The treatment of the aged and infirm, of the helpless and unfortunate members of the household, is of especial interest. Death in the family was attended by peculiar national observances. See Family, Marriage, Patriarchate, Slavery.


Judaic, Archeology and Biblical

Aharon's Jewish Books and Judaica
600 South Holly Street Suite 103
Denver, Colorado 80246
303-322-7345