{"id":57520,"date":"2017-11-30T18:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T16:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=57520"},"modified":"2017-11-22T09:26:09","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T07:26:09","slug":"22-00-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=57520","title":{"rendered":"4,000-year-old prenup pushes for surrogacy in case of infertility"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>4,000-year-old prenup pushes for surrogacy in case of infertility<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

AMANDA BORSCHEL-DAN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Cuneiform tablet calls for a contractual sex slave to be freed after a son’s birth — and would have prevented the bitter rivalry between biblical Hagar and Sarah<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 4,000-year-old Assyrian tablet is the first evidence of surrogacy in infertility. (Istanbul Archaeology Museum)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The cradle of civilization is also the birthplace of surrogate motherhood, according to a recently deciphered cuneiform tablet from Turkey.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first historical reference to infertility and surrogacy was found in a trove in Turkey\u2019s Kayseri province. And, unlike the famous biblical surrogacy of Hagar which resulted in bitter rivalry, this contractual surrogate mother would have been freed from slavery after the birth of a male child.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 4.000-year-old Assyrian clay tablet, an ancient prenuptial agreement, was discovered during modern excavations of a site where some 1,000 such tablets were uncovered in 1925. Today they are known by scholars as the Cappadocian tablets and since 2014 the site of K\u00fcltepe-Kanesh has appeared on the UNESCO World Heritage List.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the recently found prenup tablet, linguists uncovered what is now considered the first historical reference to infertility. According to the marriage contract, if within two years of marriage there is no issue, the couple\u2019s infertility was to be remedied by surrogacy through the use of a hierodule, which Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines as \u201ca slave or prostitute in the service of a temple.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Due to its historic medical nature, the discovery was recently announced in the journal Gynecological Endocrinology.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the article\u2019s abstract, written by group of researchers led by Harran University in \u015eanl\u0131urfa, Turkey, \u201cdemographic infertility\u201d is defined as the inability to produce a live birth after five years of unobstructed sexual contact. It was previously unknown how early in mankind\u2019s history infertility was remedied through any external means, such as the use of a surrogate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA first mention about infertility and surrogacy is discovered on a 4000-year-old clay tablet of marriage contract belonging to the Assyrian period exhibited at Istanbul Archeology Museum in Turkey,\u201d according to the English abstract.<\/span><\/p>\n

The tablet was found in Turkey\u2019s K\u00fcltepe district, which from 2,100 BCE to 1,800 BCE was a thriving trade colony of the Old Assyrian Empire. Written in Old Assyrian and signed before four witnesses, the prenup states the wife could hire a sex slave to serve as a surrogate mother. However the husband could not take an additional wife, according to an article in Atlas Obscura. The article explains that Mesopotamians were monogamous and if one partner pushed for a divorce, according to the prenup, he would have to pay five minas of silver (some $1,500 in current currency) to leave the marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n

This Assyrian idea of a wife sourcing a handmaiden to bear her husband\u2019s child is paralleled in the story of Hagar and Sarai (later called Sarah). As described in Genesis 11 and 16, Sarai, Abram\u2019s wife (later Abraham), \u201csaw she was barren.\u201d She then offers to Abram, \u201cConsort with my maid; perhaps I shall have a son through her.\u201d \u201cHagar the Egyptian\u201d was made her husband\u2019s concubine and became pregnant.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018The Banishment of Hagar\u2019 by Jan Mostaert, c. 1620\u201325, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. (public domain, via wikipedia)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

However, the Bible indicates that Hagar felt herself superior to Sarai after conceiving, which arguably became the seeds for her eventual expulsion with her son Ishmael.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to \u201cSurrogate Motherhood: Hagar and Sarah\u201d by Ben-Gurion University Medical School Prof. Emeritus Liubov Ben-Nun, \u201cAt her advanced age, Sarah was an infertile woman. She desperately wanted a child, so she gave Hagar to Abraham to be his wife. Since Hagar agreed to give birth to a baby on behalf of Sarah, we can define Hagar as a surrogate mother.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, writes Ben-Nun, because not enough care was taken in the contract between Sarah and Hagar to prevent a loss of status to Sarah, the family\u2019s fabric was frayed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPersistent continuous tension between Sarah and Hagar poisoned the internal family atmosphere, so that hostile confrontations, jealousy, and hatred between women broke the equilibrium of Abraham\u2019s family,\u201d writes Ben-Nun. \u201cLack of comprehension and adequate handling of continuous stresses led to severe disequilibrium in this family. The crisis deepened, deteriorated slowly, and disintegration followed. This is indicated by Sarah\u2019s request \u2018\u2026Cast out this bondwoman and her son\u2026’\u201d in Genesis 21:10.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Assyrian prenup, however, would have eased such family drama before its inception in its stipulation that the surrogate mother be freed, and would presumably leave the couple and her offspring.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to an NTV interview quoted in the Daily Sabah with Prof. Ahmet Berk\u0131z Turp from Harran University\u2019s Gynecology and Obstetrics Department, \u201cThe female slave would be freed after giving birth to the first male baby and ensuring that the family is not\u2026 left without a child.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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4,000-year-old prenup pushes for surrogacy in case of infertility AMANDA BORSCHEL-DAN Cuneiform tablet calls for a contractual sex slave to be freed after a son’s birth — and would have prevented the bitter rivalry between biblical Hagar and Sarah A 4,000-year-old Assyrian tablet is the first evidence of surrogacy in infertility. (Istanbul Archaeology Museum) The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57520"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57536,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57520\/revisions\/57536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}