John Gill Commentary Leviticus 18:13

"Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother`s sister: for she is thy mother`s near kinswoman." — Leviticus 18:13 (ASV)

You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister ,
&c.] Which is the same relation as before, an aunt by the mother's side; wherefore, if such a marriage was unlawful, this must also, and for the same reason: for she [is] your mother's near kinswoman ;
the same phraseology is used here as in the preceding verse; (See Gill on Leviticus 18:12); and by the same rule a woman might not marry her uncle, whether by father or mother's side, the relation being the same, and this reaches to great-uncle and great-aunt.

Instances of women marrying their uncles, and men their aunts, among the Heathens, have been given, as among the Persians and Lacedaemonians by Herodotus ^F12 , and among the Romans by Tacitus ^F13 , but were, in his time, new things with the latter.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F12: Erato, sive, l. 6. c. 71. Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 224, 239.
• F13: Annal. l. 12. c. 5, 6, 7.