Women in ancient Egypt were equal to men in all fields except occupation. Historians Bob Breier and Huo Yite Hobbes pointed out that women are equal to men in almost all fields except work: "Men fight wars, manage * * and run farms; Women cook, sew and manage housework "(89). Men hold authoritative positions such as kings, governors, generals, etc. Men are regarded as the head of the family, but under this patriarchal system, women exercise considerable power and independence. Egyptian archaeologist Barbara Watson wrote:
In ancient Egypt, the law stipulated that women enjoyed equal rights with men. Her legal rights depend on her social class, not her gender. From mother to daughter, all land property is inherited by the mother. Suppose, perhaps, that motherhood is a fact and patriarchy is a problem with different views. Women have the right to manage their own property and do whatever they want. She can buy and sell, become a partner in a legal contract, be an executor and witness of legal documents, bring a lawsuit to the court and adopt a child in her own name. An ancient Egyptian woman is very capable in law. By contrast, in Ptolemy's time, an ancient Greek woman was supervised by a male guardian and many Greek women living in Egypt. It was observed that Egyptian women did not behave like kyrioi, and they were encouraged to do so themselves. In a word, compared with many women in ancient and modern society, women in ancient Egypt enjoyed a higher social status. ( 16)
From religious beliefs to social customs, ancient Egypt's respect for women is reflected in almost all aspects of civilization. God is male and female, and everyone has his own equally important professional field. Women can marry people they want, divorce people who are no longer suitable for them, engage in jobs they like-within a certain range-and travel at will. The earliest creationism writing in culture more or less emphasized the value of women's principle.
The Divine Woman
In the most popular creation myth, Atum lit up the primitive mound in the chaotic vortex and began to create the world. However, in some versions of this story, it is the goddess Ness who brings creation. Even where Atum is the central figure, the primitive water is personified as Nu and Naunet, which is a harmonious balance between the principles of men and women, combined with creative behavior.
After creation and creation, women continue to play an important role, which is proved in the equally popular stories of Osiris and Isis. It is said that these two brothers and sisters ruled the world (that is, Egypt) after creation, and taught the precepts of human civilization, the art of agriculture and the correct worship of gods. Osiris was killed by his jealous brother Seth. Isis brought him back to life, gave birth to his child, Horus, and raised him as king. She, her sister Nefertis and other goddesses, such as Serkate and Ness, helped restore the balance of the land.
Hassall, the goddess, was sent to earth as Sehmet, the destroyer of punishing human crimes. After she got drunk with beer and woke up happier, she became people's friends and close partners. Tenenet is the goddess of beer and is regarded as the drink of God. She provides recipes for people and supervises the success of brewing. Shea is the goddess of words and librarians, Tayette is the goddess of weaving, and Tefnut is the goddess of water. Even the passage of a year is considered feminine, because Rumbey cut off her palm branches to mark the passage of time. Buster is one of the most popular goddesses in Egypt. She is the protector of women, family and women's secrets. Egyptian religion respects and promotes women, so it is not surprising that women have become important members of clergy and temple life.
Women and religion
Since the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040- 1782 BC), the most important position a woman can hold is the wife of Amon. There are many "wives of God" related to different gods. At first, in the Middle Kingdom, Amon's wife was just one of many wives. The wife of God is an honorary title awarded to women (who originally belonged to any class and later became the upper class). She will assist the high priest in the ceremony and take care of the statue of God. In the whole kingdom of New Egypt (BC 1570- 1069), the prestige of this position kept increasing, until the third intermediate period (BC 1069-525), Amon's wife had the same power as the king and effectively ruled Upper Egypt. During the period of the New Kingdom, the wife of the most famous God was the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut (BC 1479- 1458), but many other women held public office before and after her.
Women can be scribes or priests, usually cults with goddesses. For example, there are female and male priests in Isis, while cults with male gods usually have only male priests (such as Amon). The high prestige of Amon's wife is another example of the ancient Egyptians' balance, because the position of Amon's high priest was balanced by an equally powerful woman.
It must be pointed out that when describing the religion in ancient Egypt, the meaning of the word "cult" is different from that in modern times. The cult in ancient Egypt is equivalent to a sect in modern religion. It is also important to realize that there is no religious ceremony as people observe now. People have the most complete interaction with their gods during festivals. In these festivals, women often play an important role, such as two virgins who perform the lamentations of Isis and Nefertis in Osiris Festival. Priests maintain temples and take care of idols. People go to temples to ask questions, pay off debts, be grateful, consult questions, make decisions and interpret dreams.
Dreams are regarded as the gateway to the afterlife, and the platform for the gods and the dead to communicate with the living. However, they don't always do this. Skilled interpreters need to understand the symbols in dreams and their meanings. Egyptian archaeologist Rosalie David commented:
In Deir el-Medina's text, "smart women" and their role in predicting future events and their causal relationship are mentioned. It has been suggested that these predictions may be about practicing the conventional aspects of religion in the New Kingdom or even earlier. (28 1)
These clever women are good at interpreting dreams and predicting the future. The only existing records about dreams and their interpretation come from men, namely Hall of Sebeni Toth and Ptolemaius, the son of Grotius (both in 200 BC), but inscriptions and fragments show that women are mainly consulted on these issues. David went on to say, "Some temples have been renamed as dream incubation centers, where people can spend the night in a special building and communicate with gods or deceased relatives to gain insight into the future" (28 1). One of the most famous is the Hassall Temple attached to Dandra, where the clergy are mainly women.
Female occupation
The clergy in ancient Egypt enjoyed high respect and a comfortable life. From the early dynasty of Egypt (3 150 BC to 26 13 BC) to the late Egypt (525 BC to 332 BC), history is full of records of clergy, especially the Amon clergy, accumulating land and wealth. In order to become a priest, one must first become a scribe, which requires years of specialized research. Once a woman becomes a scribe, she can enter the clergy, teach or become a doctor. Female doctors were highly respected in ancient Egypt, and many students from other countries attended medical schools in Alexandria. The Greek doctor Agnodice was refused medical education in Athens because of her gender. She studied in Egypt in the 4th century BC, then disguised as a man and returned to her hometown city to practice.
However, because the learning process of becoming a scribe is long and arduous, not many people-both men and women-choose to pursue it. In addition, scribes generally come from scribes' families. They attach great importance to literacy and expect their children to follow their parents' career. Therefore, women are often employed as weavers, bakers, brewers, sandal makers, basket weavers, cooks, waitresses, or as "housekeepers". Today, they will become manor owners. When a woman's husband dies, or they divorce, a woman can keep the home and manage it as she pleases. It is almost shocking to compare gender equality in this respect with women's rights in the past 200 years. For example, an American widow who lived in the early19th century, her husband died or left. In ancient Egypt, women could decide for themselves how to make money and safeguard their property. Scholar James C. Thompson wrote:
It seems reasonable that a man who owns such a manor will hire a male scribe to manage it, and an heiress will do the same thing. We have little evidence that elite women are engaged in full-time or * * * jobs. (3)
Especially talented women, can also find a job as concubines. Concubines are not only used for * * *, but also need to make achievements in music, conversation, knitting, sewing, fashion, culture, religion, art, etc. However, this does not mean that their appearance is irrelevant. Amenhotep III (about 1386- 1353 BC) asked Prince Rubailu of Geze for forty concubines, which clearly showed this point. Amenhotep III wrote:
Look, I sent the archer Hana to give you something so that you can marry a beautiful concubine, that is, a weaver. Silver, gold, clothes, all kinds of precious stones, ebony chairs, all the good things are worth 160 Deben. A total of * * *: forty concubines-the price of each concubine is forty dollars. Therefore, the beautiful concubines are flawless. (Lewis, 146)
These concubines will be preserved by the Pharaoh as part of his harem. As far as Amenhotep III is concerned, his palace in Malta is one of the most luxurious palaces in Egyptian history. As long as the king still takes care of his first wife faithfully, he is considered worthy of having many women, but for most Egyptians, marriage is monogamous and lifelong.
Love, sex and marriage
As mentioned above, Watson pointed out that women are considered to have legal capacity in all aspects of life and can take any action without the supervision, consultation or approval of men. This model is applicable to marriage, sex and any other field of life. Women can marry whoever they choose. Marriage is not arranged by men in the family. They can divorce at any time. Although lifelong marriage has always been considered desirable, divorce is not shameful. Breier and Hobbes commented on this:
No matter rich or poor, any free person has the right to enjoy a happy marriage. In Egypt, marriage is not a religious issue-there is no ceremony involving priests-but a social custom, which requires an agreement, that is, a contract negotiated between the suitor and his future wife's family. The agreement includes the exchange of valuables between the two parties. The suitor offered a "virginity gift" at an appropriate time to compensate the bride for what she would lose, which shows that ancient female brides cherished virginity. Of course, this kind of gift is not applicable to the second marriage, but even in this case, a "gift for the bride" will be provided. In return, the bride-to-be's family provided a "wife gift". In many cases, these two gifts were never delivered, because the couple quickly merged their families. However, in the case of divorce, either party can sue for the agreed gift later. (88)
Ancient Egyptian couples also signed prenuptial agreements in favor of women. If the man files for divorce, he loses the right to file a lawsuit against the gift and must pay a certain amount of alimony to his ex-wife until she remarries or asks him to stop paying. Children in marriage always follow their mother, unless they belong to their husband's family and stay with her.
Married and unmarried women can have birth control and abortion. Erbers medical papyrus, C. BC 1542, has a paragraph about birth control: "A prescription for stopping pregnancy in one year, two years and three years. A certain amount of acacia jujube is ground with honey. Wet the seed wood with the mixture and insert * * * *”(Lewis, 1 12). Although men who start marriage may cherish virginity, women are not required to be virgins on their wedding night. Women's premarital sexual experience is not a big problem. The only warning about women's sexual behavior is related to women who lure men away from their wives. This is only because a stable marriage helps a stable community, so it is in everyone's best interest for a couple to stay together. In addition, the ancient Egyptians believed that a person's earthly life was only part of an eternal journey, and people expected their life, including their marriage, to be worth experiencing forever.
Relief, paintings and inscriptions depict husband and wife eating, dancing, drinking and farming together. Although Egyptian art is highly idealized, it is obvious that many people enjoy a happy marriage and stay together for life. Love poems are very popular in Egypt, praising the beauty and kindness of girlfriends or wives, and swearing eternal love with modern love song-like sentences: "I will never leave you/when my hand is in your hand/I will accompany you/in every favorite place" (Lewis, 20 1). The speakers in these poems are men and women, covering all aspects of romantic love. Egyptians are very satisfied with the simplest aspects of life. A person can enjoy the company of his lover, wife, family or friends without becoming a member of the royal family.
The Lost Gift of the Queen of Egypt and Isis
Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the Egyptian royal family lives well, and many queens and little wives living in the palace will experience great luxury. The above-mentioned Amenhotep III Palace in Malta covers an area of more than 30,000 square meters (30 hectares), with spacious apartments, meeting rooms, audience rooms, throne rooms and reception halls, festival halls, libraries, gardens, storage rooms, kitchens, harem and temples dedicated to Amon. The outer wall of the palace gleams bright white, while the inner color is lively blue, golden yellow and vibrant green. Although women living in such palaces have experienced a much higher life than the lower classes, they still have their own responsibilities and continue to perform Mart.
Sally-Ann Ashton, an Egyptian archaeologist, wrote: "In a world ruled by male pharaohs, it is often difficult to fully understand the role of the queen of Egypt. Pharaoh will have many queens, but the most important one will be promoted to "chief". Wife "(1). The role of the Lord or great wife varies from Pharaoh to Pharaoh. Take Amenhotep III's wife Queen Tiye (BC 1398- 1338) as an example. She often participates in state affairs, works as a diplomat, and even writes her name on a column, just like a king. Nefertiti (about 1370- 1336 BC), his wife, Okhennathan, took care of her family and helped her husband manage the country. When her husband basically gave up his duties as a Pharaoh and focused on his new monotheism, Nefertiti took on his responsibilities.
As early as the early dynasty in Egypt, there was a record of the great queen. Queen Menez (3000 BC) was the regent of her son. Queen Sobeknefru (BC 1807- 1802) ascended the throne during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, and ruled as a woman, regardless of the traditional dress that only men could rule Egypt. Hatshepsut of 18 dynasty imitated Sobec Nevru of Sobec dynasty and crowned himself as Pharaoh. Hatshepsut is still considered as one of the most powerful women in the ancient world and one of the greatest pharaohs in Egypt.
Although in ancient Egypt, female rulers were a minority, the powerful queen was not. Their duties and many activities are still not recorded, or at least not translated, but according to the available information, there is no doubt that these women have considerable influence on their husbands, courts and countries.
The status of Egyptian women has made incredible progress at any time in world history, including now.
At the beginning of time, when Osiris and Isis ruled the world peacefully and justly, it is said that Isis gave gifts to mankind, including gifts of equality between men and women. Women who enjoy a high position in Egyptian history are an example of this Egyptian legend. Breier and Hobbes pointed out that "the status of Egyptian women was very advanced at that time" (89). This is undoubtedly correct, but people may think that women's status has made incredible progress at any time in world history, including now. Women in ancient Egypt had more rights than many women today.
Equality and respect for women continued until Ptolemy Dynasty (323-30 BC), which was the last dynasty that ruled Egypt before it was annexed by Rome. Cleopatra VII (69-30 BC), the last queen of Egypt, is one of the best representatives of women's equality, because her ability to rule this country far exceeds that of men who ruled before her or thought she was * * *. In the 4th century, with the rise of Christianity, the status of Egyptian women began to decline. People believed that sin entered the world through Eve's disobedience, and women's value and trust were lower than men's. The invasion of * * * in the 7th century brought * * * to Egypt, effectively ending the equality enjoyed by women in that country for nearly 3,000 years.