Abstract

VAN WYK, Susandra J. Content analysis: a new approach in the study of the old Babylonian family division agreement in a deceased estate. Fundamina (Pretoria) [online]. 2013, vol.19, n.2, pp.413-440. ISSN 2411-7870.

The recorded family division agreement in a deceased estate encompasses a variety of components, mechanisms and details ranging from elementary to lengthy and complex ones. Moreover, the agreement is drafted in accordance with the contractual parties' particular oral agreement and the scribe's idiosyncratic inclusion of some of the detail of the oral agreement. A specific methodology is devised in order to analyse the content of the family deceased division agreements.Thus the aim and purpose of this content analysis methodology is to simplify the analysis of old Babylonian division agreements. In this article, special attention is accorded to the creation of a methodology, termed the analysis model, for the analysis and study of the content of family deceased division agreements. Within this framework, firstly the obligatory essential elements of a family deceased division agreement are identified and then other aspects and elements of the agreement are identified and studied in different groups, named the natural and incidental elements, to reflect new perspectives on the division agreement's meaning, purpose and spirit in ancient Babylonian urban life.

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