Leviticus 18:13
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister; for she is thy mother's near kinswoman.
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister,.... 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 thy 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 {l}, and among the Romans by Tacitus {m}, but were, in his time, new things with the latter.
{l} Erato, sive, l. 6. c. 71. Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 224, 239.
{m} Annal. l. 12. c. 5, 6, 7.