Interesting tidbit

Veiling of females in the mideast goes clear back to the Assyrians.

I.40. If the wives of a man, or the daughters of a man go out into the street, their heads are to be veiled. The prostitute is not to be veiled. Maidservants are not to veil themselves. Veiled harlots and maidservants shall have their garments seized and 50 blows inflicted on them and bitumen poured on their heads.

Not only that but a man was free to strike his wife: I.58. Unless it is forbidden in the tablets, a man may strike his wife, pull her hair, her ear he may bruise or pierce. He commits no misdeed thereby.

There were also steep penalties for causing miscarriage, seemingly contradictory laws concerning rape, adultery and inheritance.

That's from The Code of the Assura, c. 1075 BCE.




Source:
Assyrian Code