From Mesopotamia to the Mishnah

Tannaitic Inheritance Law in its Legal and Social Contexts

By (author) Jonathan S. Milgram

Book cover: From Mesopotamia to the Mishnah

Extent: 222 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Ancient Near East, Religious Studies

Series: Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(June 2016)

ISBN: 9783161540219

6.38 x 9.41 inches

Price: $201.00

In stock

Tannaitic inheritance law is best explained against the backdrop of the legal and social contexts in which the laws were formulated. Jonathan S. Milgram charts laws in other ancient legal traditions adopted and adapted by the tannaim and considers the degree to which the tannaitic laws may have emerged out of the social and economic contexts of tannaitic Palestine.


In this study, Jonathan S. Milgram demonstrates that the transformation of inheritance law from the biblical to the tannaitic period is best explained against the backdrop of the legal and social contexts in which the tannaitic laws were formulated. Employing text and source critical methods, he argues that, in the absence of the hermeneutic underpinnings for tannaitic innovations, the laws were not the result of the rabbinic imagination and its penchant for inventive interpretation of Scripture. Turning to the rich repositories in biblical, ancient near eastern, Second Temple, Greek, Elephantine, Judean desert, and Roman sources, the author searches for conceptual parallels and antecedents as well as formulae and terminology adopted and adapted by the tannaim. Since the tannaitic traditions reflect the social and economic contexts of the tannaitic period – the nuclear family on privatized landholdings in urban centers – the author also considers the degree to which tannaitic inheritance laws may have emerged out of these contexts.

  • By (author) Jonathan S. Milgram

"As a result of Milgram's study, we more clearly observe the relationship between Roman, Greek, and ancient Near Eastern laws and tannaitic traditions." --William Brown, thebiblicalreview.wordpress.com
—