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Our Mishna presents a uniquely disturbing case that stems from the following situation.
Two men offer kiddushin to two women, but at the time of the nesu’im the women are switched and each ends up sleeping with the wrong spouse.
In such a case, they would all need to bring a korban chatat – a sin-offering.
We continue our exploration of marriage in the late antique period with a comparison with cases in Attic law, where there were sons in the family, the daughter exhausted her rights, including those of inheritance, with the dowry, and was then known as epiproikos.
But in a case where there was no son, she was known as epikleros and had the right to the whole estate, as sole descendant of an oikos with no males.
City law did not however allow the wife to be the possessor of the kleros. She therefore functioned as conveyor of the kleros, and it was via her that it was passed on to her sons.
But so that the kleros should not disappear from the family, the law laid it down that the epikleros, along with the kleros, should pass over to the male relative nearest in the lateral branch.
Should he refuse her, she came to the immediately next, and so on.
This nearest blood relative (anchisteas) could marry her, provided she was unmarried; or could proceed to aphaeresis epiklerou, if she was already married.